JACKSON BOARD VOTES TO OPPOSE HIGHWAY UPGRADE

JACKSON -- The proposal to widen Highway 34 in west Jackson from two lanes to five has drawn fire from city officials who say the Missouri Department of Transportation has failed to listen to them.

The plan gives top priority to a project that city officials say they cannot support as a more pressing need than the proposed East Main Street interchange at Interstate 55.

"Our support for this overall plan would be saying we are OK with a low priority for the East Main Street interchange," Jackson Mayor Paul Sander said in a statement released Monday night. "We are not OK with that."

The plan would widen Highway 34 (West Jackson Boulevard) from Highway 25 some 3 1/2 miles to the Highway 34-Highway 72 split west of Jackson. Some 26 houses and a number of businesses would be affected by widening the roadway to five lanes.

Residents along the highway have been invited to discuss the plan at an open house from 5:30 to 8 Wednesday night at the Jackson Middle School cafeteria. Sander and city administrator Steve Wilson said residents are very upset about the proposal.

Sander said the city can support expanding Highway 34 to three lanes with wide shoulders that would make eventual widening to five lanes possible if necessary. MoDOT already has acquired most of the right of way for a three-lane expansion, Wilson said, but five lanes would have a much greater impact.

"The potential for expense there is great," he added.

Sander said any improvement of Highway 34 would have to include upgrading of the intersections with Route PP and with Cathy Drive, both of which are causes of traffic congestion.

The Jackson Board of Aldermen unanimously passed a motion stating its opposition to the MoDOT plan.

"We have met with MoDOT dozens of times the past several years on these highway issues," Sander's statement said. "To date our input has meant very little to MoDOT in their decision-making process."