ROAD PLAN SUGGESTED AT MEETING; LOCAL OFFICIALS SUBMIT 19 IMPROVEMENTS TO STATE

JACKSON -- A proposed package of 19 road and highway improvements for Cape Girardeau County calls for everything from widening a section of Interstate 55 to creating an inner belt from downtown Cape Girardeau to Mount Auburn Road.

Jackson Mayor Paul Sander called the package "a 20-plus-year plan" for improving traffic flow throughout the county.

The plan was outlined during a public meeting Tuesday at Jackson City Hall.

Local officials call the plan a possible alternative to improvements the state is considering to the Highway 34-72-25 corridor and a Highway 34 bypass from Cape Girardeau to Jackson.

"I don't think anybody is here today to say that this is the right or wrong thing," Sander said. "It's simply another plan for consideration."

Walt Wildman, a consultant who helped formulate the plan, said the improvements would help ease traffic flow from one end of the county to the other and within Cape Girardeau and Jackson.

"The original proposal was to coordinate the needs of the regional flow of traffic and the needs of each community to not be inundated with traffic," Wildman said.

Those are "conflicting needs," Wildman said.

Most of the 19 proposals call for widening, extending or improving existing roadways.

"There's not a lot of new stuff on this map," Wildman said. "It's new to put them all together and look at it as a whole."

None of the entities involved -- Jackson and Cape Girardeau, the Cape Girardeau County Commission and the Missouri Department of Transportation -- has endorsed the entire improvements package.

But the three local entities have endorsed the two projects they consider top priorities for road improvements: The extension of East Main Street in Jackson to Interstate 55 and widening Route K to a divided four-lane corridor from Gordonville to the new Highway 74-Shawnee Parkway.

Local officials don't necessarily expect to see all 19 of the proposed improvements carried out. "Most of this is a wish list," Presiding Commissioner Gerald Jones said.

There's no figure for carrying out the entire improvements package, Jones said, who replied, "My goodness, no," when a reporter asked if the cost had been determined.

"We realize there are limits for the financial aspect of the highway department," Jones said.

But with some of the alternatives for the Highway 34 bypass ranging in cost from $80 million to $90 million, he said, local officials want a plan more in line with what the state will actually be willing to invest in the area.

"We just don't feel like that's a realistic figure that's going to be spent around Cape County," Jones said. "We would like to get down to a realistic point of what will be spent, and make the improvements that will move traffic today and hopefully for the next 10, 15 years."

The package was designed to "move traffic in an easy, economical way," Jones said.

All of the entities will have to determine which projects are their priorities, "and then we'll have to start seeing what we can really afford to do," he said.

Jones said the four governmental entities involved will be responsible for paying for improvements made in their jurisdictions.

"We're not looking at just one funding source," he said. "There might be a bunch of different funding sources."

The cities, the County Commission and the state will have to review the package before any final decisions are made, said Scott Meyer, MoDOT district engineer.

"It's like a buffet: Eventually you're going to have to pick out what you want," Meyer said. "There's only going to be so much money, so we're going to have to make good decisions as far as how we proceed with these things."

Cape Girardeau Mayor Al Spradling III echoed those sentiments.

"This is obviously an issue that's going to have major impact for the next many years, so we want to get it right the first time," Spradling said.

The goal in putting together the package was to arrive at a "comprehensive, cohesive plan that we all can live with," he said.

PROPOSED HIGHWAY PRIORITIES

The numbers on the map correspond to the following descriptions of highway work proposals. They don't represent priorities. 1. Add two lanes to I-55 from Nash Road to North Kingshighway and I-55 from mile marker 91 to mile marker 99.2. Extend South Kingshighway as an outer road to a point south of Scott City, building a new exit to Kelso for Highway 61.3. Extend Highway 25 from the 25-77 intersection to Route AB at I-55. This would divert 5,000 cars per day to I-55 and the new 61 Outer Road Port Authority Road.4. Widen Highway 25 to four lanes from the 25-77 intersection to 61-72-34-25 in Jackson.5. Rebuild south 74 and I-55 intersection and relocate 74 out of floodplain.6. Relocate Highway 34 directly from Route U in Bollinger County to Route K at Gordonville, following existing Highway OO and Z. New route would move at least 2,500 cars per day off 34-72 through Jackson and save nearly 25 miles per trip for travelers.7. Make Route K divided four lane from Gordonville to Highway 74, also known as Shawnee Parkway.8. Three or more lanes for Highway 34-72 from junction to 25-72-34 intersection.9. Build bypass from the 34-72 intersection to the 61-55 intersection at Fruitland.10. Build highway from County Road 318, east from 25, and then north to intersect with 61-34-72 east of new Wal-Mart to extend north to East Main extension. Numbers 9 and 10 would divert P&G traffic around Jackson. Other connecting bypasses to complete the outer loop could be built later.11. Plan construction for East Main with interchange at I-55 to be extended to North Sprigg Street in Cape Girardeau.12. Widen overpass to four lane at Bloomfield Road and I-55.13. Widen Independence to four lane and extend over I-55 to the curve on Route K.14. Widen Siemers to four lane with center turn lane from Independence to new Highway 74.15. Widen Mount Auburn to four lanes with center turn lane from Independence to new Highway 74 and plan for same construction to junction at South Kingshighway past new Central High School and Vo-Tech School.16. Raise Highway 177 above 100-year flood level.17. Development of center junction at I-55 and Highway 61.18. Three lane Highway 61 from Independence Street in Jackson to I-55.19. Provide inner belt through downtown Cape Girardeau coming off Sprigg, north of the Show Me Center, connecting with North Middle. Curve behind City Hall following railroad tracks west of Seminary; following Giboney to Southern Expressway with a terminus at Mount Auburn, north of the new Central High School.