Updates

Transportation

Road work ahead

BENTON , Mo. â€" Improvements in the Ramsey Creek area near Scott City at the border of Cape Girardeau and Scott counties will benefit the county with more commercial opportunities.

“That’s kind of a big deal for northern Scott County for development along the east side of the interstate and also an outlet for the traffic to help relieve some congestion at the intersection,†said Jamie Burger, presiding commissioner. “Once this happens, we’re going to have approximately one mile of interstate frontage for business exposure.â€

“There’s already some industry out there, but they have bad access,†said Ron McCormick, commissioner. “This will also be a more direct route for people coming from Scott City.â€

Extra outlets and easier access will be a plus for emergency vehicles, Burger said. It will also ease traffic at the Scott City interchange, which, when school is in session, is backed up from 7:45 to 8:30 a.m. and again from 3 to 5:30 p.m. The area is part of the proposed Enhanced Enterprise Zone in the county, Commissioner Dennis Ziegenhorn pointed out. “Anytime you can get industry in your county, you’re doing good,†he said. “This will be a good competitive measure â€" what goes on at the north end of Cape County hurts us.â€

Sikeston mayor seeks new bridge

SIKESTON, Mo. -- The crowd of more 130 people gathered at the Clinton Community Building in Sikeston had a single purpose: to get a new bridge.

Sikeston Mayor Mike Marshall called the meeting a bridge summit. He wants to see a new bridge between Missouri and Kentucky.

He called the current bridges nearest Sikeston, on U.S. Highways 60 and 51 and which connect Missouri and Kentucky through Cairo, Ill., “old, extremely narrow and dangerously unsafe.†Among those who attended were government officials from Missouri and Kentucky, business owners, truck drivers, other private citizens and U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson’s chief of staff, Lloyd Smith.

Kentucky’s transportation officials weren’t at the meeting, said Keith Todd, spokesman for Kentucky Department of Highways districts 1 and 2, because “we are mandated by the legislature to follow the six-year road plan, so we are legislatively driven as opposed to being engineering driven.â€

Mark Shelton, district engineer with the Missouri Department of Transportation, attended the meeting and was also troubled by the claims, which have been fueled by the fact the bridge from Mississippi County, Mo., to Alexander County, Ill., has a sufficiency rating of 18.6 percent out of a possible 100 and the Cairo-Wickliffe bridge over the Ohio is rated at 20.1 percent.

Donnie Brown, New Madrid County highway engineer and mayor of New Madrid, said the bridge’s sufficiency rating was not likely to rise.

After the meeting, Shelton said the Cairo-Wickliffe bridge received a safety rating of six, out of a possible nine, during a thorough inspection last year and that from a structural standpoint it “is in no danger of collapsing.â€

He said sufficiency ratings measured such categories as condition, traffic count, width and approach.

“It’s a 20-foot-wide bridge with curves at each end,†he said, adding that such a bridge would not be built today. But he said applying current standards to older bridges was akin to evaluating a working 1975-era pickup truck by the standards of a new model.

Representatives from three businesses â€" Noranda, Burch Foods and Pullen Trucking Co.â€" said they wanted a new bridge for safety reasons.

Of those who attended, two dozen signed up to create an action plan.

Senate approves funds for depot roof, bridge

POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. â€" Federal funding to help build a new U.S. 67 bridge south of Greenville and put a new roof on the historic train depot in Poplar Bluff has been approved by the U. S. Senate.

Before it is signed into law, the bill will have to be reconciled with the House version, said U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, R-M0., the ranking member of the Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee.

Bond secured more than $11 million in federal funds for critical transportation projects in Southeast Missouri. Of that amount, $3 million will be spent on the new bridge. The bill also includes $250,000 for the restoration of the Poplar Bluff Historic Railroad Depot.

Restaurants

Owners may expand Wib’s Drive-In

After 21 years of operating Wib’s Drive-In in Jackson, owners A.D. and Judy Hoffman are thinking about expanding.

The long-standing restaurant North High Street, or U.S. 61 North, is a Jackson institution dating to 1947. The Hoffmans acquired the property next door, the Brookside Motel, as bequest from Gwen Winningham, who operated it until her death in 2005 at age 95. The motel, which also opened in 1947, would have required too much investment to update it to modern standards, Judy Hoffman said, so it is coming down.

Expanding the restaurant would make it more accessible, especially for handicapped customers, but the Hoffmans are worried about changing the atmosphere, she said.

An expansion would also bring benefits of better climate control, Hoffman said. The old concrete building has no insulation and no airlock (the double doors that create a small room at the entrance).

Hoffman said she and her husband are drawing up plans in an attempt to figure out how much an expansion would cost. The project would have to be balanced with family needs, she said â€" the Hoffmans have three teenage children, with one daughter in college at the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Restaurants to move in

Developer Gary Hellwege said he has leased space at his development on North Kingshighway for two new restaurants â€" Beef ‘O’Brady’s, which is a franchise that will be built by Robert M. MacGillivray of Sikeston, Mo., and Lee Hillman of Cape Girardeau, and a Pizza Hut that will be part of the new “Italian Bistro†concept unveiled by parent company Yum! Brands in 2005.

Beef ‘O’Brady’s is a family sports pub, and will be in a 3,500 square foot restaurant, Hellwege said.