JACKSON TAKES HARD LINE ON ROAD PLANS

The state's proposal to widen a congested stretch of Highway 34-72 in Jackson hasn't exactly been accepted with open arms, and understandably so.

The 3 1\2-mile section from Highway 25 westward to where highways 34 and 72 split carries a lot of traffic, particularly during rush hours. It also is the main route to and from Jackson schools, which generate even more traffic in the form of buses and student and staff vehicles.

In putting the improvement high on its priority list, the Missouri Department of Transportation cited safety concerns because of the amount of school traffic along the highway. The department wants to widen the two-lane highway to five lanes: two eastbound and two westbound with a left-turn center lane as it has done through east Jackson. The project would cost an estimated $10 million, and work would not begin any sooner than 2003.

By unanimous vote, the Jackson Board of Aldermen a week ago went on record in opposition to the improvement. The board didn't say the improvement isn't needed. Instead, it views a new Interstate 55 interchange with East Main street as a more pressing need.

The board and other Jackson interests repeatedly have urged MoDOT to give Jackson the East Main interchange, but the interchange isn't among the department's priorities.

Expressing the board's position, Jackson Mayor Paul Sander said of the Highway 34-72 upgrade: "Our support for this overall plan would be saying we are OK with a low priority for the East Main Street interchange. We are not OK with that."

The mayor said the city can support expanding the highway to three lanes with wide shoulders and eventually widening it to five lanes, but not at the expense of the I-55 interchange.

Much of the highway that would be improved is lined with houses, and MoDOT says 26 of them would have to be demolished and more right of way obtained. Many property owners attended a public meeting Wednesday to get questions answered. Some voiced their opposition.

Despite all of the opposition, the fact remains that the highway needs to be widened for both safety and efficiency reasons. Whether Jackson eventually gets its I-55 interchange -- and whether MoDOT eventually decides to build a bypass to more efficiently carry traffic around Jackson and into the I-55-Route 74 interchange in southwest Cape Girardeau, as it has discussed -- remains to be seen.

But for now, in MoDOT's mind, the Highway 34-72 improvement takes priority, and an East Main-I-55 interchange isn't an either-or proposition.