SEVERAL AREA PROJECTS INCLUDED IN STATE PLAN

About 140 miles of new or improved highway will be built in Missouri and about 1,500 miles of highways will be resurfaced this year as part of the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department's 1994 construction and improvement program.

Included in this year's $475 million construction program are two major jobs that are a part of the Highway 74 relocation (Mississippi River bridge route) in Cape Girardeau, and the East Nash Road extension project.

That project will extend Nash Road to the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority's public dock facility on the Mississippi River at Gray's Point.

Numerous other Southeast Missouri construction projects also are contained in the 1994 program, including construction of another section of dual-lane highway on Highway 60 between Dexter and Fisk in Stoddard County.

The 1994 construction program is a part of the department's 15-year master construction plan that is revised each year.

Projects in the plan are funded, in part, from federal highway funds, funding from the April 1987 Proposition A, in which voters approved a 4-cent increase in the fuel tax for highway improvemts, and a staged, 6-cent-per-gallon increase in the fuel tax enacted by the state legislature in 1992.

Wayne Muri, chief engineer for the highway department in Jefferson City, said the 1994 program schedule is based on full funding that was authorized in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991. (ICTEA)

"Any reduction in these ICTEA funds will affect the scheduling of the projects in the 1994 program," Muri said.

Muri also warned that a potential threat to Missouri highway construction could come from a federal mandate that requires stricter testing for vehicle air pollution in the St. Louis area.

"Failure to comply will result in the immediate loss of federal highway funds for St. Louis City and County and St. Charles, Franklin and Jefferson counties, followed by the loss of federal highway funds for the rest of Missouri," he said.

"This inspection system has to be set up or virtually all highway construction will be halted," Muri added. "It's essential that legislation be passed to establish enhanced vehicle inspection in the St. Louis area."

Some of the major Southeast Missouri area highway projects scheduled to begin this year include:

- Cape Girardeau County Route 74 relocation, which is a $3.3 million project to build two bridges over Cape La Croix Creek on the bridge route.

- Also, $5.3 million will be spent to build the new route, with traffic signals, from South Kingshighway to South Sprigg Street.

- Grading of the Nash Road extension from east of Ramsey Creek to west of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks at a cost of $2 million.

- Grading, paving and construction of a new interchange at Route TT along Highway 60 in Stoddard County. The dual-lane route will be built between Dexter and Fisk at a cost of $13.4 million.

- A $400,000 study to determine the corridor for a new Highway 72, from Interstate 55 to Highway 25 in Jackson.

- A $500,000 study to determine the corridor for a new Highway 60 from Poplar Bluff west to Willow Springs.

- $1.2 million to replace the Castor River bridge on Route A at Marquand.

Tom Stien, with the District 10 planning construction office at Sikeston, said the twin bridges over Cape La Croix Creek - between Minnesota and Rust Avenue - will be 820 feet long.

"We anticipate letting the contract on the bridges on March 25," said Stien. "If everything is OK, the contractor will probably receive the notice to proceed around the second week of May, weather permitting. We expect the bridges will be completed in mid-1995."

Stein said the bridge route paving, about 1.7 miles between Kingshighway and Sprigg, ought to begin in October.

"We expect most of the work will be done during 1995," he said. "As soon as the paving is completed, that section of the new highway will be opened to traffic, hopefully, in late 1995 or in 1996."

Stien said both projects are part of the Highway 74 relocation bridge route project that will include construction of a new Mississippi River Bridge sometime after the year 2000.

"The grading and earthwork for the I-55 and relocated Highway 74 interchange is now underway," he said. "We're waiting on dry weather for the work to resume."

Stien said that after all earthwork and grading at the interchange is completed, it will be another 12 to 18 months before the earth compacts sufficiently to begin paving.

"If everything goes according to plan, actual construction of the overpass bridge at the I-55 interchange will begin in the fall of 1995," he said.

Stien said work on the design of the new Mississippi River bridge is nearing completion.

"Provided all of the necessary funding for the bridge is worked out between Missouri and Illinois, we anticipate letting the contract for the first phase of the construction of the bridge in the fall of 1995," he said.

"If construction of the bridge substructure begins on time, we estimate the bridge will be completed in about five years, or around the year 2000."

A stumbling block has developed, however, in obtaining funding for the $65 million river bridge. Federal highway funds will provide 80 percent, or $52 million, with Missouri and Illinois will supplying the balance.

Stien said in the past, Illinois used its discretionary federal funds to build major bridges.

But the ICTEA reduced those discretionary funds, and Illinois must now use money in the regular pool of federal highway money it receives -- something the Illinois Department of Transportation has balked at.

Stien said the Nash Road project will be done in three phases.

Phase two of the extension will include completion of the earthwork and grading between Ramsey Creek and the railroad tracks, and letting of a contract in 1995 for grading of the new roadbed from the west bank of Ramsey Creek to a point where the new road will connect with the existing East Nash Road.

At the same time, work will begin on the earthwork and grading of the roadbed from the railroad tracks to the port site. Phase two work will also include construction of the Nash Road bridge over the UP tracks.

"If everything goes according to plan, and if the river stays in its banks, and the weather is good, all of the grading and earthwork for the roadbed and both bridges should be completed during the summer of 1996," said Stien.

"Phase three will include paving the entire four-mile stretch of roadway to the port sometime in 1996. Yes, it's a tight schedule, but we feel we can do it, if the river and the weather will cooperate."