Local leaders mull how to spend extra $5 million from feds

The extra money might be used to construct two connecting roads to the East Main Street interchange.

The six-year, $286 million federal highway bill includes $10.8 million for the East Main Street project in Cape Girardeau County, nearly twice as much as what it could cost to build the interchange.

But the added money might be used to construct two connecting roads costing several million dollars, local officials suggested Friday.

Jackson hopes to use some of the added money to extend East Main Street to the west side of the planned Interstate 55 interchange.

Cape Girardeau wants to tap the federal dollars to construct the 2.5-mile LaSalle Avenue, which would connect to the east side of the interchange.

The city of Cape Girardeau may no longer have to earmark $3.1 million in transportation sales tax money for the LaSalle Avenue project, Mayor Jay Knudtson said Friday.

That revelation comes only days before Tuesday's election in which Cape Girardeau voters will decide whether to extend a half-cent transportation sales tax for another five years to fund street projects. Those projects include LaSalle Avenue.

The city council has promised to use the money on nine specific projects. But if money isn't needed for the LaSalle project, Knudtson said, another project will be moved up.

Three alternate projects are already on the list approved by the planning and zoning commission and the city council: improvements to New Madrid Street from Perry Avenue to Clark Avenue, and two sections of West End Boulevard -- Bloomfield to Shawnee Parkway and Rose Street to New Madrid Street.

Knudtson said it's too late to make major changes to the transportation trust fund list of projects. "This is coming at zero hour," he said of the federal funding.

Missouri's two U.S. senators, Kit Bond and Jim Talent, each earmarked $5 million for the project. U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson tacked on another $800,000.

'The most amazing thing'

Local officials said they never expected this much federal funding for the project and still don't know exactly how the money will be spent.

"It is the most amazing thing that I have ever seen," said Cape Girardeau County Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones. "I never dreamed this could happen."

The interchange was expected to cost $5.8 million. But the cities would still have to build connecting roads on the east and west sides of the interchange, and extend water, sewer and electricity to the area, Jackson Mayor Paul Sander said.

Sander said the added funding is a credit to the partnership of local governmental entities that lobbied for the project for years.

MoDOT district engineer Mark Shelton said he expects the interchange and related improvements will end up costing more than $10.8 million. But he said he had no firm estimate.

"We are going to be able to do more than we ever thought," Shelton said. "This will allow us to expand the scope of the project."

Jones said the proposed interchange originally was expected to cost more than $7 million. But items like turn lanes were scaled back to reduce the cost.

Those may now be added back into the project, he said.

A month ago, five governmental entities -- cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson, Cape Girardeau County and the Southeast Missouri University Foundation and the Missouri Department of Transportation -- struck a deal to move ahead with the interchange project.

Under the agreement, MoDOT would have paid half the cost of the $5.8 million interchange. Of the other $2.9 million, Jackson was scheduled to pay 34 percent with the other three entities each paying 22 percent.

But the federal funding could reduce the amount of money that the entities put into the project. Local officials, however, said they aren't sure.

Sander said the agreement had stipulated that any additional funding would be split among the five entities by the outlined percentages.

Local officials had planned to establish a transportation development district and impose a one-cent sales tax to purchases made as a result of commercial development. Property owners in the area also would have paid a 10-cent per $100 assessed valuation property tax to help with the improvements.

But Sander and Jones said the transportation district may no longer be needed.

Local officials said they plan to meet Thursday to look at how the federal dollars might be spent on the interchange project.

Unsure of spending limits

Even staff members for Missouri's federal lawmakers said they don't know exactly what costs other than the interchange itself can be funded with the federal money.

Bond is scheduled to visit Jackson next Friday to discuss the new highway bill. Local officials said they hope to have to know by then how the federal dollars will be spent for the interchange project.

Jones said last month's agreement by local governments to help fund the project was a key factor in securing federal funding.

He said the money won't be wasted and spending will be closely monitored on the project.

"It is still tax money," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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