RAISING OF ROUTES 3, 146 IN ILLINOIS PROGRESSING

EAST CAPE GIRARDEAU, Ill. -- A highway improvement project in Southern Illinois is only 15 percent complete, but Illinois Department of Transportation officials are pleased with the first three months' progress.

Some seven miles of highway from East Cape Girardeau to Gale and McClure will undergo improvements, such as culvert extensions, stabilized shoulders and concrete resurfacing.

A contract calling for flood repair work along Route 146 from the Mississippi River bridge east to Illinois 3 and Route 3 from north of Gale to north of McClure will be carried out over the next year.

The $3,132,412 contract was awarded to Southern Illinois Asphalt of Mount Vernon, Ill.

IDOT assistant project engineer Mark Wece said the rains and wet weather in November had slowed the project.

"But since then we've had a dry winter, and have managed to get a lot of work finished," he said.

A number of new culverts have been installed along the route.

While most culverts and extensions are completed, only a few driveways are left to do, Wece said Wednesday.

The road along the 7.5-mile route will be raised.

"We're hauling fill-dirt every day," Wece said, adding: "We want to get the shoulders built up before the summer rains start. Then, we'll concentrate on the roadwork."

Wece said the road would be raised from 2 inches in some spots to as much as 2.5 feet in others.

Although an exact timetable has not been established, department officials hope work will be completed later this year.

Southern Illinois Asphalt had paved the highways -- 2.5 miles along Route 146 and more than four miles along Route 3 -- following the 1993 flood. The roads were raised several inches during the flooding.

In a related matter, E.T. Simonds Construction Co. of Carbondale has a $221,679 contract to do riprap work at the Mississippi River bridge and at a bridge over Lake Creek on Illinois 3 in Alexander County.

State transportation funds will also be given to Tamms to build an access road to the nearby new maximum security prison site.

The governor's office said the money will provide more than 60 percent of the costs for the access road to the new prison, expected to open next year.

The road will run westerly from Illinois Route 127 to the prison site northwest of Tamms.

The new road will be 24 feet wide, with 8-foot-wide rock shoulders. Total cost of the projects has been estimated at $380,000.

Construction is under way on the prison's work camp, which is expected to open this year.