PENZEL WINS $2.5 MILLION HIGHWAY CONTRACT

The state will spend $2.5 million to improve U.S. 61 and state Highway 177 near Fruitland.

The Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission has awarded a construction contract to Penzel Construction Co. of Jackson.

The improvements are being made in conjunction with the expansion of the Procter & Gamble plant in Cape Girardeau County.

Highway commissioners hired Penzel at Friday's commission meeting in Kirksville.

Work on the project should begin in May and be completed by November, said Missouri Department of Transportation resident engineer Bob Wilson.

The contract covers the second of three projects to improve traffic flow between Interstate 55 and Highway 177, and along the Highway 177 corridor to the P&G plant.

The state last July awarded a $3.2 million contract to Penzel to replace the two I-55 bridges over U.S. 61 at Fruitland. That work should be completed by September.

MoDOT expects to award the final contract in May. That work will focus on improving Highway 177 intersections.

All of the improvements are slated to be completed by January or February, MoDOT officials said.

The latest project involves expanding U.S. 61 to five lanes from the northbound I-55 interchange ramps to the intersection with Highway 177, providing motorists with two lanes of traffic in each direction and a center turning lane.

Also included is improving U.S. 61 at the I-55 overpass. There, the roadway will be expanded to six lanes, which includes two left-turn lanes for motorists to get onto the interstate.

Several new traffic signals will be installed. Signals will be installed at the I-55 access ramps on Highway 61 and the Highway 177 and Route W intersection. New traffic signals also will be erected at the intersection of highways 61 and 177 where two left-turn lanes will be added for motorists seeking to turn onto Highway 61.

The traffic signals should help improve traffic flow on the congested highways, Wilson said.

Traffic congestion is particularly heavy during shift changes at P&G, he said.

About 9,600 vehicles a day travel stretches of Highway 61 near Fruitland, but Wilson said MoDOT expects the daily traffic count to jump to about 16,000 vehicles within 20 years.

Wilson said the new bridges on I-55 are being built to provide the added width needed to extend over an expanded Highway 61. They also are designed to be more earthquake resistant.

The third phase of improvements will widen entrances and add turn lanes on Highway 177 at several intersections from Highway 61 to Route J.

Entrances will be widened at county roads 543, 549, 603 and 605, and the Hickory Hills Subdivision. Entrances will be widened and a center turn lane constructed at intersections with county roads 553 and 607, and Bella Vista Estates, Route V and the M&W and P&G truck lot areas.