ROUTE 3 WORK TO START SOON

OLIVE BRANCH, Ill. -- Paving of a 4.5-mile section of Illinois Route 3 will start about two miles northwest of Olive Branch this month.

"The contract has been let," said Bob Zieba, Illinois Department of Transportation district engineer in Carbondale. "We're still on target of opening this section of Route 3 to traffic by fall of 1994."

E.T. Simonds Construction Co. of Carbondale was the low bidder for the major road improvement project, with a bid of $3.4 million.

"The firm will be moving in equipment over the next two to three weeks," said Zieba. "Paving should get under way soon."

More than 90 percent of the earthwork is complete for a road relocation project between Twente Crossing, north of Olive Branch, and Thebes.

"All of the box culverts and drainage structures are in," said Zieba. "Some other groundwork is still going on, but paving can start on the south end of the project. Workers have been making good progress on the earthwork."

Most of the remaining groundwork is in the northern area of the project, where it will tie into the existing highway near the Thebes intersection, said Zieba.

"Motorists will find a noticeable difference once the project is completed," said Zieba. "The existing narrow, winding and hilly highway will be a much flatter grade with fewer steep hills and sharp bends than the existing highway."

Once the new highway is opened, Zieba said the existing sections of Route 3 will be left open for residents who live along the old highway.

The current work is the final phase of a three-phase project begun in the late 1980s, replacing a total of 7.5 miles of highway that department officials say was constructed between 1932 and 1935, and has been functionally obsolete for more than 20 years.

The first two phases intersection and bridge work at Thebes and a 1.8-mile scenic highway along the Mississippi River from near Gale to Thebes were completed during the first three years of the overall project.

Plans for the third phase of work between Thebes and Twente Crossing call for a 24-foot-wide roadway and eight-foot blacktop shoulders.

"That's about double the space of the old roadway," said Zieba. Currently, the old roadway has a 20-foot width and little or no shoulders in some areas.

Zieba said the daily traffic count along the 4.5-mile stretch shows that an average of 2,200 vehicles travel the road each 24-hour period.

The area between Twente Crossing and Olive Branch along Route 3 was resurfaced with new 24-foot pavement two years ago, and improvements were completed earlier along Route 3 into Cairo.

"When this section of road is completed, motorists will find an improved Illinois Route 3 all the way from Cairo to Chester," said Zieba.