Options for I-66 corridor

News coverage of possible Interstate 66 connections between Cape Girardeau and Paducah, Ky., seems to beg for clarification. May I try? I have talked with proponents and highway engineers in the past.

An east-west connection from the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge and the East Cape "Y" straight east to I-24 just north of Metropolis, perhaps running just south of Shawnee College, would need 40 miles of new interstate highway construction. It would cross 10 miles of hilly U.S. Forest Service land just east of Cape then find a crossing of the Cache River basin and connect with I-57 near Ullin, Ill. It would be Cape Girardeau's best connection to Illinois points north. And it would mean one less river bridge for taxpayers to build.

Environmental concerns involving the Cache River basin might force the new highway to merge with I-57 for a short distance near Ullin to cross the protected area.

Improving Route 3 south from Cape Girardeau to connect with I-57 near Mound City/Cairo and construction of a new interstate river bridge across the Ohio River in that area is a possibility. The Kentucky side already has nine miles of U.S. 60 improved to interstate quality from West Paducah to near Kevil. It would need another 16 miles of new construction to reach a new Ohio River bridge. Five of those miles on the Kentucky side would be across marshy land. If the connection to I-57 was made at Cairo instead of Mound City, it would involve crossing still more flood plain land.

Businessmen in Dexter and Poplar Bluff are urging a new U.S. 60/I-66 bridge be built across the Ohio north of Cairo. For traffic between Southern Missouri and West Kentucky, the difference between the two routes above would be about 12 to 15 miles -- the mileage between Cairo and Ullin.

Some 20 years ago Kentucky and Missouri highway planners assumed they would build the connection without Illinois help, since the Illinois governor saw no benefit to construct miles of interstate highway through unpopulated areas. Then a new governor saw the light that the project could involve many jobs, and he fought to route the new road through Illinois.

For Kentucky, the decision became whether to find millions of dollars to build several miles of new interstate highway, some of it on stilts through floodplain, or to simply route I-66 across the Metropolis bridge and let Illinois foot the bill. Both Illinois governors are now gone.

The Coast Guard will not permit a new bridge to be built at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers because towboat pilots find it too difficult to make the turn and safely align the boats to pass under the bridges.

Initial planning for the Mound City Lock and Dam involved running a four-lane highway over the top of the dam. That idea was dropped because of poor soil conditions.

Mileages are based on Google Earth straight-line mileages and are rounded.

Fred Keller, of Cape Girardeau, is a former news media professional.