34-72 UPGRADE PLANNED; NEW CAPE-TO-JACKSON CONNECTION PROPOSED

JACKSON -- The number of possible corridors under consideration for expansion and improvements to Highways 34 and 72 has been trimmed from 13 to five.

Representatives for QST Infrastructure Inc., the firm hired by the Missouri Department of Transportation, outlined the remaining proposals for Cape Girardeau County public officials during a meeting Monday at the Jackson Chamber of Commerce.

A public meeting on the project is scheduled for Nov. 18 at the Holiday Inn in Cape Girardeau. The project would provide a new or improved four-lane highway between the Highway 34-72 intersection in Jackson and the new Highway 74 Interstate-55 interchange at Cape Girardeau.

Community input concerning the remaining five possible routes for the project is vital, said Kathryn Meyer, a QST representative.

The meeting will run from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., but those who wish to attend need not stay for the duration.

"It's very critical that we get people living in these areas out to find out what their concerns are early in the process," Meyer said.

Planners hope to select a route within six months.

Also to be discussed is a separate project to improve access between the intersections of Highways 25 and 77 near Chaffee with the new Highway 74 interchange.

Both projects are still within the preliminary stages. Construction is tentatively scheduled to begin no sooner than 2002. However, many steps remain before funding can be secured, making the start date for the project uncertain.

For the Route 34-72 project, planners dropped eight possible routes that would have cut south of Jackson and through a largely undeveloped area between Cape Girardeau and Gordonville.

Steve Coates of QST said those routes would cost between $60 million and $70 million -- much more than the remaining options -- due to the necessity of building new roadways rather than expanding existing ones. Those segments would cause significant displacement of farmland and raise wetland and other environmental issues.

Of the five remaining proposals, three would route traffic to the Center Junction interchange and down I-55 to Highway 74 while the other two would send traffic to the Route K interchange.

"We don't want to lock ourselves into one area," said Coates.

The proposals:

-- Upgrading the existing roadway through Jackson to I-55. Coates said this is the least expensive option, costing about $20 million. However, he said it would increase congestion during construction.

-- Building a divided four-lane bypass south of Jackson that would reconnect with 72-34 just west of Kimbeland Country Club.

-- Building a slightly longer bypass that would reconnect farther east.

-- A southern route to Highway 25 at a point just south of Jackson. This route would then cut down Highway 25 over to Route K.

-- A southern route that would connect with Highway 25 closer to Gordonville and then follow Route K.

The Route 25-74 project from the Chaffee area is "very conceptual right now," Coates said. Three plans are on the drawing board. All three would improve the Dutchtown interchange and upgrade all or part of Highway 74.

Two of the plans call for building a new roadway, either east or west of Bloomfield Road, to the Highway 74-I-55 interchange. The third would follow the existing Highway 74 to the old connection with I-55, then follow the interstate to the new Highway 74 interchange.