TUESDAY: HIGHWAY OFFICIALS PLAN TRANSPORTATION MEETING

Freeman McCullah, chief engineer for District 10 of the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department, and John Oliver, a member of the Missouri Highway Commission, will keynote a meeting Tuesday in Cape Girardeau.

The meeting will be held at Mr. B's Waffles and Deli, Independence and Kingshighway.

"We have invited officials from Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Scott City to the 3 p.m. session," said Robert Hendrix, president of the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce. "We hope to have 25 to 30 people at the meeting."

The subject will be "Highway Planning for The Future," noted George Hathhorn, chairman of the Chamber's Surface Transportation Committee, which is sponsoring the meeting.

"Approval of the 6-cent gasoline tax increase has enabled Missouri to embark on a major highway construction effort," said Hathhorn. "We wanted to a get a group together and discuss the proposed road improvements for this area."

One of the primary topics on the agenda will be improvements to Highways 24, 72 and 25, and how they will be brought into the Cape Girardeau area said Hathhorn.

"McCullah will have several maps concerning these improvements," said Hathhorn. "Right now, we don't know where these improvements are scheduled in the 15-year plan. But, we want to be prepared and actually list our priorities with the highway department."

The 15-year highway program calls for improvement of Highway 25 from Jackson to the Malden/Campbell area; Highway 34 from Jackson to Van Buren; and Highway 72 from Jackson to Fredericktown.

Included on the list of officials who have been invited for the meeting are city council officials and chambers of commerce members from Jackson, Scott City and Cape Girardeau; members of the Cape Chamber's Surface Transportation Committee; county commissioners from Scott and Cape Girardeau Counties; Cape Special Road District representatives and Walt Wildman of the Regional Commerce Growth Association (RCGA).

Other big projects in the 15-year plan include extension of Nash Road from Interstate 55 to the Southeast Missouri Port on the border of Cape Girardeau and Scott City and the elimination of one-lane bridges on all state roads.

"The Nash Road extension is one of the early projects on the list," said Hathhorn. "It will be one of the first projects funded with the new tax."