STATE REVISITS I-55 AND 61 INTERSECTION

A TCI Cablevision crew spent Tuesday afternoon at the intersection of Interstate 55 and Highway 61 videotaping it from every angle.

It was a week ago today that their coworker, James Hampson III, 27, was killed there when a motorist allegedly failed to yield right of way and pulled into the path of his TCI vehicle. Hampson's truck rolled several times, throwing him from the vehicle.

"We're trying to understand what happened that day," said Ron Gibson, state engineer for TCI Cablevision of Missouri. "This videotape will be distributed nationwide for all of our drivers to see. We want to prevent this from happening again."

Hampson became the first fatality at the intersection, but accidents there are commonplace. The intersection is ranked the second worst for accidents by the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Interstate 55 and Route K ranks No. 1.

From Oct. 1, 1993, to Sept. 30, there were 34 accidents at the Highway 61 site, 11 resulting in injuries.

The problem isn't the intersection's layout, said Missouri Highways and Transportation Department District 10 Engineer Freeman McCullah. It is the number of cars going through it at high rates of speed.

The highway department was looking for ways to make the junction safer long before Hampson's death.

"The traffic has picked up there, and it just keeps growing because of all the nearby development," McCullah said. "People are driving faster on Highway 61."

District maintenance engineer Mike Helpingstine used a radar gun Tuesday to chart speeds on the highway. He found 85 percent of drivers go 60 mph or faster through the intersection, but the speed limit is 55 mph. The safest speed may be even slower.

Last summer a hill that made it hard for drivers coming off Interstate 55 to see traffic coming from Jackson was removed between the north- and southbound lanes of Highway 61. Still, bridge supports make it difficult to see traffic coming from Cape Girardeau if drivers don't pull all the way up to the stop sign.

McCullah said there are several ways to potentially make the intersection safer, and some could be in place within a week. Others could take months. All of them have drawbacks.

For example, the department may place enlarged stop signs, perhaps with flashing lights, on Interstate 55 exit ramps. However, people who know the area pay little attention to traffic signs.

Traffic lights are another option, but it would take twice the number of lights as usual due to two median strips where cars stop before they make left turns onto Highway 61. Only so many cars fit on the strips, so some traffic might be held up for a long time while other vehicles are allowed to move.

The speed limit could be dropped, but limits originally are set according to what most people drive, anyway. Drivers probably wouldn't slow down without 24-hour police surveillance.

McCullah leans toward installing "rumble strips." The grooved pavement makes noise when cars go over it, alerting drivers to an upcoming stop.

"We have to do something because of the amount of traffic there," McCullah said. "It just takes one moment of no concentration for an accident to happen."

The department is also researching the intersection of Mount Auburn Road and Route K and the Diversion Channel bridge on Interstate 55, which are other high-accident areas.

ACCIDENTS AND INJURIES AT I-55 AND HWY. 61

1994 (to date)

17 accidents

10 injury accidents

1 fatality

1993

24 accidents

7 injury accidents

1992

20 accidents

8 injury accidents

1991

18 accidents

1 injury accident

1990

23 accidents

1 injury accident

1989

7 accidents

1 injury accident