SCOTT CITY -- Despite some rain delays early this spring, construction is continuing as planned on the Nash Road extension project.

The Missouri State Highways and Transportation Commission is expected to award a contract later this week for construction of a bridge crossing Ramsey Creek.

Costs for the extension project are estimated at $9 million, and it is scheduled for completion in 1997. Early figures estimated the cost at $6.2 million but didn't include right of way acquisitions.

The four-mile extension will create a direct route for trucks entering the SEMO Regional Port Authority from Interstate 55.

Dan Overbey, executive director of the port, said the road will serve current tenants at the port and may attract new ones by diverting traffic from Main Street in Scott City.

A rail spur project to connect the port to three railroads is under construction. It should be completed next month, he said.

With the Nash Road extension, the port should be accessible to all modes of transportation -- rail, air, river, road and pipelines.

The port owns about 500 acres of land and has three tenants in operation. Construction on a new grain elevator hasn't begun yet, Overbey said.

Preliminary design work for the Nash Road project began in 1992. A grading project also is under construction now, but its cost isn't included in the total project estimates.

There are several phases to the project. They include a grading project from the Semo Port Railroad to Route K and rebuilding and paving the current road. The final phase will be paving the current Nash Road to the end of the extension at the port's property.

Highway officials anticipate that the road will be open to traffic by 1997, but weather and funding always are a consideration.

"Weather is always a big factor," said project manager Rae Clark Fuller. She added that part of the road was under water during the spring flooding, but there has been a lot of work lately at the site.

The extension project is part of the Missouri Department of Highway and Transportation's short-term action plan. It is a high priority project in the district, Fuller said.

"We fought to keep it in short-term action," she said.

The project is funded through an agreement with the highway department and the port authority.

The port authority provided three miles of right of way and acreage for grading along the road. The highway department is funding the construction.

The port was created in 1975 and is governed by a nine-member board of directors. Four commissioners each are appointed from Scott and Cape Girardeau counties. One seat is rotated between the counties on a two-year term.