Because the new route under construction linking I-55 with the planned Mississippi River Bridge is a limited access highway, development along the road will be limited as well.

Only four streets -- Sprigg Street, West End Boulevard, Kingshighway and Silver Springs Road -- will intersect the new Highway 74 connection between the bridge and I-55.

Construction began in January on the section of road between the interstate and Sprigg Street. Completion is targeted for 1997.

Traffic signals will be placed at all but the Silver Springs Road intersection.

Of the four intersections, one is expected to draw the greatest concentration of development. "The primary intersection is Kingshighway," city Planning Director Kent Bratton said. "We may see some change in use."

The route will cross South Kingshighway between Rust and Hickory streets, an area already zoned commercial with a number of businesses -- such as the U-Haul Center and Cape GMC Pontiac -- in existence.

"Given the level of traffic we get on Route K and Highway 61, that interchange certainly is going to be a focus of development," Bratton said.

Sprigg Street at the intersection with Highway 74 currently is zoned local commercial, which would allow for retail stores and gas stations but not motels, Bratton said.

"I'm sure there will be some requests for zoning changes," he said, referring to the entire route.

Development will be further limited at the West End Boulevard intersection by Shawnee Park to the west. Some development could occur on the east side of the intersection.

The Lutheran Home owns the property along the north side of the route from Kingshighway west to Silver Springs Road, further diminishing opportunities for development.

A mobile home park occupies the south side.

The last of the four intersections, Silver Springs, is zoned residential.

Whatever development occurs along the new Highway 74 shouldn't change the character of the neighborhoods dramatically, Bratton said.

"People years ago predicted William Street was going to be stripped commercial," he said. "It didn't happen."

When construction will start on the section of highway between Sprigg Street and the bridge is just a guess, because the two states haven't yet established funding for the bridge itself.

"I suspect it won't be done until the bridge is at least started," Bratton said.

A planned Lorimier Street extension providing a northbound outlet from the bridge will be the city's responsibility and will require land that currently part of the St. Vincent's Seminary property.

The State Highways and Transportation Department currently is overseeing work on the various projects that will lead to completion of the new corridor. Those include:

-- Right-of-way acquisition. Nearly complete.

-- Earthwork at I-55 interchange. Nearly complete.

-- Cape La Croix Creek bridges. Contract awarded April 1, 1994.

-- Mississippi River Bridge. Engineering in progress.

-- Kingshighway to Sprigg Street. Contract awarded Dec. 16, 1994.

Larry Rohr, district highway design engineer with the department in Sikeston, said a contract for an overpass at I-55 and pavement work at the interchange is still to be let in 1996.

Bidding for the Mount Auburn Road to Kingshighway section of the road is planned for early 1996.

The price tag for the projects currently under way is about $25 million.

On the Illinois side, the four-lane bridge route will connect with Highway 146 shortly after crossing the Mississippi. Highway 146 through East Cape Girardeau will be widened from the current two lanes to five, including an interior left-turn lane.

East of the village, the highway will return to two lanes in the current plan. A long-range plan calls for possibly increasing Highway 146 to four lanes east of the village.

"We see the bridge project as improved safety," said Don Bridgewater, program development engineer for District 9 of the Illinois Department of Transportation.

"What's there now is very narrow. I've heard comments that some people are afraid to drive across that bridge."

When construction on the Illinois side begins depends on when the funding dispute between Missouri and Illinois is settled, Bridgewater said.

"No work will be done until the funding issue is resolved."

Work currently being done on Highway 146 is repair of damage caused by the flood of '93.

East Cape Girardeau Mayor Joe Aden said the proposed five-lane road "definitely will be a plus for our community and for anybody who wants to put a small business in."

The plan should ease the traffic tie-ups caused by the high number of side roads intersecting Highway 146, Aden said.

"We have problems right now with a two-mile area there," Aden said.

Ted Shakell, director of the Southern Five Regional Planning Commission at Shawnee College, said the Illinois Department of Transportation hasn't contacted the commission at this stage of the bridge planning.

Eventually, Shakell said, "we would like see what kind of impacts they expect on the village.

"A lot of traffic comes from Illinois to Cape," he said. "It's a big commercial center. A lot of people go for health care and shopping and some to work."

Shakell said the commission also will be interested in the construction's impact on the levee system, and the location of the outlet into Cape Girardeau.