Study delays Scott City bridge project

~ Federal study will look at how many cars use the route and what interchanges get the most use.

The environmental review that must precede Scott City's Ramsey Creek Bridge project still hasn't begun, even though $5 million in federal funds were dedicated to the project in July 2005.

Holding up progress on the Ramsey Creek project, which is meant to bypass Interstate 55 and connect Scott City's southern residential area to its northern industrial area, is a federally mandated traffic study. Called a "purpose and needs statement," the study will evaluate the I-55 corridor from Fruitland to just south of Scott City.

The Federal Highway Administration is requiring MoDOT to complete the traffic study before any work can begin on the Ramsey Creek Bridge. The study will look at traffic capacity and connectivity -- how many cars use the route and what interchanges get the most use -- along the corridor, said MoDOT project manager Eric Krapf, including determining whether Scott City will get a new I-55 interchange it has been asking for as part of the Ramsey Creek project.

City leaders say the current interchange has traffic congestion problems that need to be addressed with a new interchange. Scott City's Main Street, Highway 61 and I-55 all connect at the interchange.

"Since Ramsey Creek is a piece of that, they didn't want us to proceed in Scott City until we have that statement done for the entirety of this stretch of I-55," Krapf said. The idea, Krapf said, is that the study will give MoDOT current information on traffic usage along the Interstate the agency can use in planning the Scott City project and determining whether a new interchange should be included.

MoDOT hopes to wrap up the corridor study by summer and will then begin the environmental review, Krapf said. The review will then take 12 to 18 months including public hearings, based on past experience, he said.

But Krapf won't give an anticipated date for the start of the review or its completion. Nor does MoDOT know where the bridge or a new interchange might be constructed, he said. Design work will have to follow the review before construction can begin, Krapf said.

Expected delays

Scott City Mayor Tim Porch said he's not happy with the delays, but he's satisfied in knowing the Ramsey Creek project will happen.

"Am I happy with the length of time it's going to be delayed? Not at all. I just know when the feds said 'hold the phone,' the district office has nothing to do but listen," Porch said.

Scott City expected some delays back in November 2005, when MoDOT gave the city two options: allow MoDOT to do the engineering work, including the environmental review, or the city could do that work itself. The city chose to let MoDOT do the work, since the small city government doesn't employ engineers like larger cities do.

Porch knows that a new interchange isn't guaranteed, either. "Our biggest fear is they'll say the bridge is enough and we don't need an interchange," Porch said.

The Bootheel Regional Planning and Economic Development Commission, which serves six Southeast Missouri counties, is lobbying MoDOT to include a new interchange in its construction plans. The commission's Transportation Advisory Committee, which consists of representatives from all six counties, is recommending MoDOT give the interchange high priority.

The project was also given high priority last fiscal year, Duke said.

"The congestion there at Scott City is the obvious reason," Duke said, adding that a new interchange would open up land in the area for economic development.

msanders@semissourian.com

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