DEVELOPMENT: UNIVERSITY, CITY SHARE AMBITIOUS PLANS FOR I-55

A pact between the city of Jackson, Mo., and Southeast Missouri State University could make both their dreams for Interstate 55 development come true.

Jackson leaders want another interstate exit -- a third way to get people onto and off of the area's main north-south route. They envision the alleviated traffic and commercial development that would follow such an interchange.

Meanwhile, Southeast officials are considering turning the school's demonstration farm near Jackson into a technology park -- a commercial village with businesses devoted to technological research, including agribusiness research. An I-55 interchange to the site seems the only way to make it happen.

The question is whether the Missouri Department of Transportation will share the vision. MoDOT officials say it could be 2007 before the state begins the estimated $5 million project, and that's dependent on getting funding in a state brimming with small towns who want big road projects.

Jackson Mayor Paul Sander said the city wants the project to be built in 2004. Jackson already has extended East Main Street to within about a mile of Interstate 55 and is prepared to extend the road all the way to I-55 to connect to the interchange on Southeast's land.

But Sander said East Main Street won't go an inch further until the state commits to the interchange project. "We are not going to build a road to nowhere," he said.

Mixed uses for park

The proposed interchange would be to the north of an existing I-55 overpass that links Jackson's Bainbridge Road, which turns into County Road 306, with County Road 618.

Southeast Board of Regents President Don Dickerson is at the project's center, working with the city of Jackson and the university to develop the farm. It's a 368-acre tract situated west of Cape Girardeau off County Road 618. The land straddles I-55, with 78 acres on the west side of the highway.

As Dickerson sees it, a technology park could have mixed uses, everything from research facilities for private firms in everything from computers to agribusiness. The site could include an office park, as well as retail offices, restaurants, hotels and parking lots. An artist's illustration even shows possible retirement housing on landscaped grounds.

"We are not going to try to do manufacturing here," Dickerson said.

Dickerson said the technology park could be developed by a private venture capital firm. The university, he said, likely would lease out the land rather than sell it. This would allow the university to maintain control of any proposed development.

For some, this may seem like a flight of fancy, but an enthusiastic Dickerson said his vision is rooted in reality. University officials have called on Jim Morrison, a technology park planner from New Hampshire and friend of Southeast Chancellor Dale Nitzschke, to prepare a feasibility study for the project. Dickerson said Morrison is only being paid expenses.

Dickerson argues the project could benefit the university, the cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson and spur construction of an East Main Street interchange that would border the technology park on both sides of the interstate.

He said federal funding might be available to assist with construction of the interchange in conjunction with development of a technology park.

East-west route

A new connecting road from the interchange to County Road 618 could provide the city of Cape Girardeau with a major east-west route across the northern part of the city, running all the way to Perryville Road and at a later date possibly Highway 177. West of I-55, the interchange would connect with Jackson's East Main Street.

The result would be a major east-west route extending from the center of Jackson through the northern part of Cape Girardeau.

The city of Jackson in early 1999 contracted with Dickerson, a Cape Girardeau lawyer, to serve as special counsel and lobby the Missouri Department of Transportation to move ahead with the interchange project. He spent 18 months working for the city of Jackson and earned $20,000, said City Administrator Steve Wilson.

While Dickerson's work for the city ended this fall, he continues to push for the technology park and the interchange project.

Wilson said Dickerson's lobbying efforts with state highway officials and development of the technology park proposal should help move the interchange project forward.

"I think we are making some progress," he said. "Once that snowball starts rolling down the hill, a lot of positive things will happen."

Sander said the lobbying effort was worth it. Dickerson, he said, knows "the ins and outs of MoDOT."

"Just as important, he knows the ins and outs of state government and the governor's office," the mayor said.

Funding issues

Construction of an East Main Street interchange could cost at least $5 million, Dickerson said. Extending East Main Street could cost another $1 million and a new connector road to County Road 618 could cost a similar amount, Jackson and university officials said.

MoDOT has committed to paying 50 percent of the cost of the interchange project with local governments expected to pick up the remainder of the cost.

Dickerson said the project could be expedited if some local funding could be arranged between the cities of Cape Girardeau and Jackson and Cape Girardeau County government to temporarily finance MoDOT's share of the cost.

MoDOT then could pay back local governments in 2007, Dickerson wrote in a Sept. 18 letter outlining the interchange and technology park project to the university's fund-raising foundation.

The foundation owns the ground on three of the four corners of the proposed interchange. Local businessman Earl Norman owns the other corner, officials said.

Dickerson said the possible development of a technology park on land owned by the university could make a stronger case with MoDOT for moving ahead with the interchange project.

MoDOT District Engineer Scott Meyer said right of way acquisition and design work could take two to three years. Construction could take at least another year, he said.

Before any of that happens, funding needs to be in place, he said.

Meyer has met with Dickerson and others about the proposed interchange. At this point, the issue is funding.

If federal funding can be secured, that would be a major boost for the project, Meyer said.

"The research park is an exciting idea," Meyer said. "The department doesn't want to stand in the way of that."

Cape Girardeau Mayor Al Spradling III said it would require the city to extend water and sewer lines to the area east of I-55. Jackson's city limits end on the west side of I-55. But Cape Girardeau's city limits don't extend to the university farm yet.

Spradling said the university farm would have to be annexed into the city limits before city utilities could be extended to the site.

The mayor sees the potential of a technology park, both for the university and Cape Girardeau.

"We don't have a lot of areas we can expand, and the university does provide quite a bit of benefit to the city," he said. "If they are willing to take a risk in developing a technology center and park for business, I think we need to be a part of that."