CIVIC LEADERS HOPE BILL SPURS CONSTRUCTION

Civic leaders in southern Missouri said Thursday that the new federal highway bill would spur construction of needed road improvements for their areas.

The House approved a six-year highway bill Wednesday that includes 1,463 specific projects, including four in U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson's 8th District.

The bill details funding for 27 transportation projects in Missouri.

Funding for the four southern Missouri projects totals $51 million.

The bill includes $27 million to widen Highway 60 to four lanes in Carter County, and $8 million each for a four-lane divided highway between Kennett and Hayti, widening Highway 63 to four lanes from Willow Springs to West Plains and construction of a Highway 67 bypass at Poplar Bluff.

Carter County Presiding Commissioner James Grassham said the 11-mile span of Highway 60 is a dangerous, winding road without shoulders. That stretch runs from Ellsinore to near Van Buren.

Numerous traffic accidents, some fatal, have occurred on that stretch of highway over the years. "It is just a killer road," he said.

Grassham doesn't view it as a pork-barrel project.

The federal funding will aid the Missouri Department of Transportation in moving ahead with the four projects, said Anita Randolph, who handles legislative affairs for MoDOT.

The state must pay for 20 percent of the cost of the road projects, she said.

The project is expected to cost $34 million. The highway department plans to start buying right of way this year. Dirt work would start in 1999. Paving would start in 2000 and be finished in 2001.

Widening of U.S. Highway 412 to four lanes between Kennett and Hayti would cost $60 million.

The $8 million earmarked for the project in the highway bill would allow the department to begin buying right of way this year, Randolph said. The project is scheduled for completion in 2003.

The two-lane, 15-mile stretch of Highway 412 is heavily traveled, said Jim Baker, executive director of the Kennett Chamber of Commerce.

Baker said the project is needed for safety reasons. "We have an area east of Kennett where the traffic count is in excess of 10,000 vehicles a day on the two-lane highway," he said.

Over the entire route from Hayti to Kennett, the daily traffic count ranges from 8,000 to 10,000 vehicles. Trucks account for nearly half of the traffic, Baker said.

"Our truck traffic has increased about 75 percent over the last eight years," he said.

Highway 412 runs from Jackson, Tenn., to Oklahoma. The highway is four lanes wide from Jackson, Tenn., to Interstate 55 in Southeast Missouri.

Baker said the road project includes rerouting one six-mile section of the highway in Pemiscot County where there are a number of nearby homes.

The Highway 67 bypass project at Poplar Bluff would cost $28.8 million.

The project began last year. Work is expected to be completed in 2001.

Poplar Bluff civic leaders like Ed Dust say the project should improve traffic flow and spur economic development. Dust is executive vice president of the Poplar Bluff Chamber of Commerce.

The project involves construction of a six-mile bypass, which would start at the highways 60 and 67 interchange north of the city and tie back into Highway 67 about three miles south of Poplar Bluff.

Dust said the bypass would reduce traffic congestion on Highway 67, which runs through the city.

"It is kind of like Main Street. It is the most commercial area of Poplar Bluff," he said.

In addition to relieving traffic problems, it also will open up some new areas for retail and commercial development, Dust said.

The widening of Highway 63 to four lanes in Howell County is also considered a priority for residents there.

The $8 million included in the highway bill would go a long way in funding the $14.4 million project, Randolph said.

Another $3.5 million in Missouri's share of money from the federal highway trust fund also would be used for the project. The state would pay the remainder of the cost, she said.

Lloyd Smith, Emerson's chief of staff, said MoDOT approved of putting the four projects in the federal highway bill as a way to expedite the projects.