ROUTE K WIDENING SCHEDULED; WILL ACCOMODATE WAL-MART TRAFFIC

Widening of Route K from two to five lanes from the west side of its Interstate-55 overpass to the westernmost entrance to the Wal-Mart Supercenter is scheduled to begin this spring, a Missouri Highway and Transportation Department official said.

The project is designed to relieve traffic congestion that has increased on Route K with the opening of the store last year.

Meanwhile, a number of other area highway construction projects are scheduled for later this year.

The Route K widening will be financed by Wal-Mart and the Drury interests, said Freeman McCullah, District 10 highway engineer at Sikeston.

McCullah said: "Everything is approved. The state has given the go-ahead on the plans and specifications, and I understand Wal-Mart has the project under contract. The work should begin this spring, as soon as the weather permits."

At the same time, traffic signals will be installed on Route K at the westernmost entrance to the Wal-Mart lot. The contractor also will reduce the grade of a hill to allow better visibility of the signalized intersection for motorists eastbound on Route K.

"There is a lot of traffic on Route K right now," McCullah said. "In addition to the through traffic going and coming from the residential areas along Route K west of Cape, we've seen a sharp increase in traffic entering and leaving the WalMart parking lot from Route K. We feel the widening of Route K to five lanes will relieve the congestion and eliminate some backup that occurs now when people try to make a left turn off Route K to get into the Wal-Mart parking lot."

McCullah said construction of a Sam's store on the south side of the supercenter and a Lowe's building center will add to the volume of traffic along Route K.

McCullah said a decision also has been made to widen the Route K I-55 overpass from four to six lanes by adding a lanes on either side. "This project is still in the design stage, and there is no estimated starting date," he explained.

Another project scheduled for this year is the first phase of the Route 74 bridge route at an I-55 interchange to be built south of the Bloomfield Road overpass. The first phase will include rights-of-way acquisition and construction of approaches and box culverts. Actual construction of the overpass will not begin until after 1996, as construction of the new Mississippi River bridge gets under way.

"Most of the work will be done on the west side of the interstate, so I do not anticipate it will affect traffic on the interstate," McCullah said.

McCullah said bids will be opened in December for construction of two bridges over Cape LaCroix Creek between Minnesota and Rust Avenue as part of the bridge route work. The project will tie in with a Mississippi River bridge to be built immediately to the south of the existing bridge.

McCullah said work on the four-mile Nash Road extension into the Southeast Missouri Regional Port near Scott City could begin in late fall, but more likely next spring.

"When the project does begin, the first phase will be construction of a bridge over the Ramsey Creek diversion channel," said McCullah. "Later we'll start construction of the earthen fill for the actual highway right of way from the present end of Nash Road to the port site.

Bad weather has stopped work on the bridge renovation project on Route M west of Scott City. Work is scheduled to resume soon. McCullah said completion is scheduled this spring.