SEMPO board members raise concerns about options for Center Junction work

There was no consensus among members of the Southeast Metropolitan Planning Organization (SEMPO) Board of Directors at a special meeting Friday afternoon.

The board met for the sole purpose of considering options for the replacement of Interstate 55 bridges over U.S. 61 and a redesign of the interchange between Cape Girardeau and Jackson commonly known as Center Junction.

But instead of endorsing one of the two construction options presented by the Missouri Department of Transportation, the board asked MoDOT to keep looking for ways to minimize driver inconvenience during the project while still keeping it as affordable as possible.

MoDOT’s original plan for the two-year project called for maintaining traffic flow along U.S. 61 and the ramps leading to and from the interstate while the bridges were replaced and a “diverging diamond interchange” was built to replace the existing highway under the bridges. The Missouri Highway Commission last month, however, rejected the bids ranging from $18.4 million to $20.1 million, several million dollars above the project’s estimated cost.

“We did a lot of work beforehand with good intentions for a good project to replace some poor bridges on the interstate at Center Junction and also use some federal safety dollars to build a diverging diamond interchange and make that interchange safer and more efficient,” MoDOT district engineer Mark Shelton told the board and several dozen area business people and area residents who attended the meeting.

“What we’ve been doing since the June commission meeting is working with our staff to see if we could come up with a solution that we can afford and that would have some support from the community,” he said.

The first option, which MoDOT announced in early June, would close U.S. 61 at Center Junction for up to seven months between April and November 2020 and would keep southbound interstate traffic exiting at Center Junction from heading south into Cape Girardeau and would prohibit northbound traffic exiting the interstate from turning north toward Jackson. MoDOT estimates the price tag for that option at about $15.8 million

That plan initially met strong resistance from city officials in Cape Girardeau and Jackson as well as the chambers of commerce in both communities because it would close the direct connection between the two towns and force motorists to find alternate routes.

MoDOT went back to the drawing board and designed a second option that would keep at least one lane of U.S. 61 open in both directions while closing the highway’s two northbound lanes. However, it would also close the interstate’s southbound exit ramp onto U.S. 61 as well as the northbound ramp from the highway onto the interstate for much of 2020. In addition, the second option would also require a complicated set of detours, U-turns and J-turns extending from Old Orchard Road north of Center Junction to the Cape County parks south of the interchange. The second option, which comes with an estimated price tag of $16.5 million, would also prohibit left turns for vehicles exiting Cape County Park North’s main drive and at the intersection of U.S. 61 and Veterans Memorial Drive at least during the first half of the project.

“So basically, we have two options,” said Cape Girardeau Mayor Bob Fox, who also serves as chairman of the SEMPO board. “The first option involves closing traffic on 61 for seven months and leaving all access open to I-55 north and south. The other option closes north access to the interstate and allows traffic underneath the bridges, but it is really complicated when you look at the other stuff.” By “other stuff,” Fox was referring to detours and turning restrictions that would be in place during much of the construction.

Fox said he was especially concerned about vehicles exiting the Cape Girardeau SportsPlex on weekends that would be unable to turn left from Veterans Memorial Drive toward Cape Girardeau and would instead have to turn right and head toward Jackson on U.S. 61 before finding someplace to make a U-turn.

“That’s a mess,” he said.

Board member and Jackson Mayor Dwain Hahs indicated he isn’t ready to support either plan.

“I guess I’m still looking for an option that keeps our interstate access into and out of both cities open,” he said.

Of the two options, MoDOT project manager Jason Williams said the one calling for a seven-month closure of U.S. 61 would be the simplest.

“Within that seven month window, the contractor could get the bulk of the work completed on the interchange without any hindrance of traffic,” he said, adding it might be possible to reopen at least one lane of the U.S. 61 in both directions ahead of schedule.

Although the SEMPO board declined to endorse either option Friday, Fox said the board will vote to support one or the other at its next meeting Aug. 21. He said the vote, however, will be nonbinding and the ultimate decision on which plan to follow will be up to MoDOT and the Missouri Highway Commission.

MoDOT officials told the board they will try to minimize construction inconvenience as much as possible.

“We are trying to develop a plan that we are able to afford and that the communities can live with,” Shelton said. “We think the results will be lots of good benefits when the project is completed.”

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