SECTION OF ROUTE 3 SET TO REOPEN THIS WEEKEND

GALE, Ill. -- A two-mile section of Route 3, which has been closed since late September, is expected to reopen this weekend.

"We expect the section of highway between the Route 3-146 intersection and Gale to be open for all traffic by the weekend," said Bob Zieba, a district engineer for the Illinois Department of Transportation at Carbondale. "Paving of the previously flooded section of road is now under way."

Meanwhile, more than 9,000 feet of an improved section of Route 3 opened just north of Twente Crossing north of Olive Branch Wednesday.

"There's a short detour road at Twente Crossing," said Zieba. "We haven't hooked the old highway in with the new, so people will have small detours at each end of the almost two-mile section of Route 3 between the crossing and Thebes."

Route 3 north of Gale was closed in late September because of seep water in the area following a 4-inch rain.

"We had to raise the level of the road in spots before asphalt paving," said Zieba. The paving is temporary for the winter. Transportation officials say a permanent surface will be installed next summer. With the completion of the paving work, a total of 4.7 miles has been paved over the past two weeks, including two miles along Route 146 from East Cape Girardeau to the 3-146 intersection.

The current work on Route 3 between Thebes and Twente Crossing is the final phase of a three-phase project begun in the late 1980s. It replaces a total of 7.5 miles of Highway 3 between Gale and Twente Crossing.

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.

"Motorists will find a noticeable difference on the new stretch of highway that opened Wednesday," said Zieba. "It's a beautiful drive, and the highway is much wider, with wide shoulders.

Plans for the third phase of work between Thebes and Twente Crossing call for a 24-foot-wide roadway and eight-foot blacktop shoulders. Currently, the roadway has a 20-foot width and little or no shoulders in some areas.

With the opening of the new 9,000 square feet about two-and-a-half miles remain to be opened to complete the third phase.

More than half of that distance has been paved.

Paving of the stretch from Twente Crossing to Thebes started in June.

"We're still on target for opening the completed 4.5-mile section by the fall of 1994," said Richard Arnold, the IDOT resident engineer on the projects. "We've been high enough that the flood hasn't bothered us, and things have been moving along at a good pace," said Arnold.