Road repairs to slow traffic flow at junction

Stretching from Cape Girardeau County Park deep into the city of Jackson, two strings of red taillights crept slowly along U.S. 61 early Tuesday morning and again late afternoon toward Center Junction.

"I saw the line of cars and at first thought it was probably a wreck," said Sue Hughes of Jackson. "Then I saw the construction signs and thought, 'Oh, wonderful.'"

Drivers using the roadway that passes under Interstate 55 may continue to experience delays this week because of repairs that have left only one lane available on both sides of the four-lane road.

Construction workers should finish the project by Thanksgiving, barring any major problems with equipment, said Stan Johnson, Missouri Department of Transportation area engineer. There are several repairs to be completed at the location, and crews are working as quickly as they can to get it all done right the first time, he said.

"We're in there trying to pick up just about everything we can so we don't have to come in and do it again," Johnson said.

Most of the repairs consist of filling pot holes and fixing uneven joints, where one sideof a slab of pavementhas risen higher than an adjoining one, Johnson said.

"There's lots of breaking and turning done by cars and trucks at an intersection, putting more pressure on the pavement than simply driving over it," Johnson said.

The construction at Central Junction is part of a larger MoDOT repair project stretching up I-55 to Fruitland. According to Johnson, no major work has been done on the segment of road under I-55 in several years.

Early and alternate

Drivers should leave for their destinations perhaps a half hour earlier than usual during the next two weeks while pavement repair work is being done in the 35 mph construction zone.

Hughes, who was commuting to work from Jackson, gave up on the slow crawl and turned her car around in a parking lot and took an another route into Cape Girardeau.

"It usually only takes me 10 minutes to get to work, but this morning it took 45," Hughes said. "I left my house at about 8 o'clock and was just past the Wal-Mart when I turned around, and I probably waited 15 minutes."

Johnson encouraged drivers who use the intersection during peak early morning or late afternoon hours to do like Hughes and find alternate routes into Cape Girardeau or Jackson if they can't leave earlier.

Those traveling from Jackson to Cape Girardeau could take Highway 25 south to Highway K and then head east.

Another alternative to circumvent Center Junction would be to use the Fruitland exit on I-55 and then head south on Highway 61 into Jackson.

Roadwork explained

Some drivers may be curious why the traffic lights at the intersections weren't altered to run green longer to alleviate congestion for those traveling on Highway 61.

Johnson said changing the light pattern was not possible due to the limited amount of "storage space" for cars between the lights, and a worse traffic jam would likely result.

"That's more dictated by the geometrics of the intersection," he said. "We're stuck with it."

For those drivers wondering why they were directed by large orange cones into a single lane when no work appeared to be taking place on the other lane, Johnson said appearances can be deceiving.

"It takes a couple of days for the concrete laid down to gain strength and fully dry," he said. "The tie ups come in getting traffic down to just one lane."

Cape Girardeau and Jackson police have reported no vehicle accidents attributed to drivers not slowing down in the construction zone.

mwells@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160