Within the next few weeks, work crews from the Illinois Department of Transportation will break ground on a project to widen a 2.6-mile section of Illinois Highway 146 to four lanes between East Cape Girardeau, Ill., and the Highway 3 junction.

The two-phase project, with an estimated cost of $7.5 million to $7.9 million, will probably take until 2011 to complete, said Carrie Nelson, program development engineer for IDOT's District 9.

IDOT has contracted with George E. Jones LLC of Marion, Ill., for $3.420,000 to do the grading and drainage work as the first part of the project, then the company will follow up with paving next year, Nelson said.

In addition to opening up the road to four lanes, the intersection with Highway 3 will be widened and more lighting will be installed.

Safety concerns might have sparked interest in the improvement project because of the high number of accidents on the stretch of highway, Nelson said.

"There's been quite a few accidents on this corridor," Nelson said.

Since the beginning of 2008, there have been 78 crashes on that section of road, 45 accident-related injuries and four fatalities, Nelson said. Many of the injuries in nonfatal crashes were serious ones, she said.

Besides the safety concerns, traffic flow on that section of Highway 146 surpasses the capacity for IDOT requirements for a two-lane highway, with an average of 11,000 cars traveling the roadway each day, Nelson said.

About $2.3 million of the funding for the project comes from the Delta Regional Authority Transportation Development Program, Nelson said.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent address:

East Cape Girardeau, IL