STATE PROPOSES COUNTY PROJECTS; 34-72 AND 25-74 MEETING TUESDAY

JACKSON -- State transportation officials and highway planners hope to gather public input Tuesday on two major road projects affecting Cape Girardeau County.

Planners have narrowed possible corridors for expansion and improvements to Highways 34 and 72 to five choices. Separate plans for a new route on Highways 25 and 74 southwest of Cape Girardeau also will be discussed.

The informational meeting will be held Tuesday at the Holiday Inn at Route K and Interstate 55 in Cape Girardeau from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. There will be no formal presentations, and those attending need not be present for the duration.

Representatives from the Missouri Department of Transportation and QST Infrastructure Inc., the firm studying the two projects, will be on hand to answer questions and listen to concerns.

The Highway 34-72 project would provide for an improved connection between the Highway 34-72 intersection in Jackson and the new Highway 74-I-55 interchange at Cape Girardeau.

The number of possible corridors under consideration for the project has been trimmed from 13 to five with the elimination of routes that would require extensive construction of new highway through largely undeveloped areas.

Planners hope to select a route within six months.

Of the remaining proposals, three would route traffic to the Highway 34-I-55 interchange between Cape Girardeau and Jackson, and down I-55 to Highway 74. The other two would send traffic to the Route K interchange.

The proposals:

-- Upgrading the existing roadway through Jackson to I-55. This currently is the least expensive option, costing about $20 million. However, congestion would be a serious problem during construction.

-- Building a divided, four-lane bypass south of Jackson. This route would reconnect with Highway 34 just west of Kimbeland Country Club.

-- Building a slightly longer bypass that would reconnect farther east of the Jackson business district.

-- A southern route to Highway 25 at a point just south of Jackson. This route would then cut down Highway 25 over to Route K, which it would follow to I-55.

-- A southern route that would connect with Highway 25 closer to Gordonville, and then follow to Route K and on to I-55.

The Highway 25-74 project, which would run from the intersection of those two roads near Chaffee to the new Highway 74 interchange, is still in the conceptual stages with three plans on the drawing board.

All three would improve the Dutchtown interchange and upgrade all or part of Highway 74 from Dutchtown to Cape Girardeau.

Two of the plans would call for building a new roadway, either east or west of Bloomfield Road, from Highway 74 to the new interchange. The third would follow the existing Highway 74 to the old connection with I-55, then follow the interstate northward to the new interchange.

Construction on both projects is tentatively scheduled to begin no sooner than 2002. However, many steps remain before funding can be secured, making the start-up dates uncertain.