Work progressed on I-55 near Fruitland in February 1971. (SOUTHEAST MISSOURIAN ARCHIVES)

LOOK BACK AT I-55: In July 1970, construction was being done on I-55 in Cape Girardeau County.

The last bit of construction of I-55 was being done in July 1972.

Darrell Delcour, left of Mountain Grove and Albert Smith of Cape Girardeau set up grade line on I-55 construction site south of Old Appleton.

An estimated 1,500 people attended the I-55 dedication in August 1972.

It was a hot August morning in 1972, and about 1,500 people and their cars were stacked up on I-55 near Perryville.

It wasn't a traffic jam. The crowd was waiting -- and had been for what seemed like ages -- for then-Gov. Warren Hearnes, Sen. Thomas Eagleton and other dignitaries to cut the ribbon and open the stretch of interstate from Brewer to Fruitland, completing the $28.8 million ribbon of highway into Cape Girardeau County.

So many spectators had congregated the morning of Aug. 30, 1972, that it was almost 1 o'clock that afternoon before traffic was organized enough to start motoring down the nice shiny new highway.

Sixteen years after work started on the first stretch of interstate in the nation -- Interstate 70 at St. Charles -- Cape Girardeau County and Southeast Missouri were linked into a cross-country network vital for economic growth.

It also made getting to St. Louis a whole lot easier.

"I remember driving back and forth to St. Louis," said E.C. Younghouse. "In places you could get on the interstate for a few miles and then before you knew it, you got back off."

For several years, the interstate was a patchwork from Festus to Fruitland, and motorists switched back and forth from I-55 to Highway 61 and Highway 67 many times along the route.

Driving on the interstate is a speedy proposition. Getting it built was not.

"I just thought that they would never get done with it," Younghouse said.

In 1969, the State Highway Commission was promising to award construction contracts for the stretch of interstate from Fruitland to the Perry County line.

But, state officials warned, since the new section would not be connected to Highway 61 until the portion stretching north to Perryville was completed, the road wouldn't be open to traffic.

Howard C. Tooke, who was the mayor of Cape Girardeau when the Brewer-Fruitland stretch opened, said he learned to take construction delays in stride.

"I was happy just as long as they worked on it," he joked. "You don't get impatient with the federal government. There's no point."

Tooke pointed out the project stayed on schedule, all in all. It was just on a long schedule.

"It's kind of like the new bridge," he said. "It's been in the works for several years, and they're just now getting around to awarding the contracts. And it'll be three or four years before it's built."

The final stretch of the interstate from St. Louis to New Orleans was completed in 1974, when a 13-mile section in Pemiscot County was opened.

The federal government couldn't be blamed for all of the delays. Barry Horst, district design engineer with the state highway department's Sikeston office, said sinkholes in Perry County caused engineering problems.

"You can't just pave over a sinkhole," he said. Special drainage systems had to be setup, and that took time.

Younghouse was on the road a lot at the time the new interstate was under construction, and said he was "real thankful" to see it finished.

Highway 61, which used to be the main conduit through the area, was a treacherous two-lane road noted for traffic fatalities.

The interstate was hailed as a safe, convenient "end to physical isolation" for the region by Hearnes when the Brewer-Fruitland stretch opened.

"It used to be that if you went to St. Louis for a ballgame, you didn't get back until 3 in the morning," Tooke said. "Now it's nothing."

I-55 did more than open up a safer, faster route to St. Louis, said Mitch Robinson, Cape Girardeau County's industrial recruiter. It opened up Southeast Missouri's economy to new business and industry.

"That's a question that's almost always at the top of businesses' list," Robinson said. "Is there interstate access? It's hard to imagine what it would be like without the interstate."

Interstates mean businesses can get good and supplies and raw materials to their plants and to their customers, he said. If there's no interstate -- or rail line or port -- there's no industry.

Communities along interstate routes thrive. Communities bypassed by the superhighways -- like those along the once busy Highway 61 -- don't, he said.

"Even 10 or 15 miles can make a difference," he said.

HIGHWAY FACTS

The system

The average Missouri motorist travels 4.528 miles each year on the interstate system.

There are 1,178 miles of interstate highways joining Missouri's urban and rural areas and linking the state to Kansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Illinois.

Missouri interstate routes support 27 percent of total motor vehicle travel while comprising just 1 percent of the states public road mileage, including city and county roads.

Vehicle travel on Missouri interstate highways increased by 56 percent from 1984 to 1994, the last year data was collected.

Missouri's busiest interstates are in the St. Louis area. The busiest is I-70 with an average of 134,000 vehicles daily traveling the route in St. Louis County.

Construction

The first interstate projects awarded in the nation were approved by the Missouri Highway Commission Aug. 2, 1956.

The first interstate construction in the nation began on Interstate 70 at St. Charles, Mo., Aug. 13, 1956.

Missouri's interstate system was completed Oct. 5, 1987. The final piece was the approach to a bridge over the Kansas River on I-670 in Kansas City.

The amount of capital investment spent constructing Missouri's interstate system is $2.85 billion.

Construction of I-55 through Cape Girardeau was completed in the 1960s.

I-55 TRAFFIC COUNTS

Average daily traffic for I-55 interchanges in Southeast Missouri, according to the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department. The number reflects how many cars passed over a traffic counter during a day, and may include one vehicle making multiple trips through an interchange.

Ste. Genevieve....14,893

Perryville........15,720

Jackson...........23,595

Cape Girardeau....39,790

Sikeston..........21,310

Portageville......20,490

Hayti.............20,018