After several meetings between state and city officials and landowners, an amended plan to redesign the entire Interstate 55 interchange over U.S. 61 between Jackson and Cape Girardeau soon will move forward.

The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) plans to replace aging bridge structures at exit 99 on I-55, and at the same time, install a diverging diamond interchange.

That interchange design would shift traffic patterns to eliminate left-hand turns, increasing safety, according to MoDOT�s website.

MoDOT�s original plans called for closing Wedekind Road, which crosses the median on U.S. 61 and connects to a small gravel road to the north and to Old Cape Road to the south, but landowners and city officials voiced concern over access if that proposal went through.

Now, MoDOT plans to close Wedekind Road entirely, MoDOT project manager Jason Williams said by phone Monday.

MoDOT and Jackson officials have met with adjacent landowners approximately 20 times this year, Williams said at the board of aldermen study session July 16.

Adjacent landowners, including Midamerica Hotels Corp., requested construction of an additional road that would allow better access, offering to compromise with MoDOT to help bring construction costs down.

Williams spoke to the board in March, when he gave an overview of how a diverging diamond interchange operates.

The project will eliminate the grassy median under I-55, and will shift access points to surrounding properties and outer roads.

After exploring options presented at landowner meetings, MoDOT has a few options, Williams said � but it will take some commitment from the city or adjacent landowners to make those work.

One option is to have access from the outer road to U.S. 61, Williams said, but that access would have only a right-turn-in, not a left turn option.

�We were also asked to look at an alternate connection to Birk Lane,� Williams said, referring to a dead-end street that connects to Old Orchard Road and runs parallel to U.S. 61.

Building that access road would cost more than MoDOT�s original plan, Williams said, so to make this work, private land donation would be needed.

Terrain issues are also a potential cost, Williams said.

But Dan Drury, president of Midamerica Hotels Corp. and Drury Restaurants Inc., said his company would donate the needed land, and the accompanying excavation, in order to help bring MoDOT�s costs down, and have a more favorable access to its property.

The other potential concern is traffic flow, Williams said.

The diverging diamond is designed to minimize left-hand turns, Williams said, so ideally, left-hand turns would be minimized in the surrounding area as well � especially since turning left across five lanes of traffic is dangerous.

So, he said, MoDOT would recommend the constructed roadway be a right-turn-only outlet.

Unfortunately, Williams said, to make that roadway right-turn-only would mean drivers wouldn�t have a turnaround, since the nearby lighted intersection at Old Orchard Road isn�t wide enough to allow U-turns, and the existing Old Cape Road doesn�t connect with return streets.

�That traffic would be pushed off onto other city streets or driveways,� Williams said.

If the intersection at Old Orchard Road and U.S. 61 were widened, Williams said, MoDOT has asked the City of Jackson fund that project. Existing shoulder pavement at the intersection would need to be rebuilt to handle the weight of traffic, Williams said, and an existing concrete median would need to be removed, in addition to widening the roadway itself to allow safe U-turns.

At the July 16 meeting, Mayor Dwain Hahs said the project�s development is important for Jackson�s future growth.

If the Drurys donate land to build a road to connect to Birk Lane, Hahs said, that�s a positive move.

�The U-turn option makes Old Orchard Road more viable, as well,� Hahs said. �Obviously, this is important to us for commercial development.�

Drury said by phone Monday that as soon as his company receives elevations for roads and other information, they�ll start moving earth.

�We�re ready to help get this thing going,� Drury said at the July 16 meeting.

Williams said MoDOT will hold a public meeting on either Aug. 21 or 23, to display the preliminary plan to members of the public, and receive comments.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3630