CENTER JUNCTION IMPROVEMENT THREATENED

A proposal to form an intergovernmental transportation corporation to accelerate $5 million in improvements at the Interstate 55-U.S. 61 interchange may have run into a stumbling block.

The Missouri Department of Transportation staff is recommending conditions on the plan that "could pose a problem for the project," said Cape Girardeau City Manager Michael Miller.

Specifically, MoDOT refuses to go along with an agreement between the local governments and developer Jim Drury in which Drury would swap the right of way for the project outright in exchange for the state's excess right of way. "We have said we will pay whatever the determined market value is for property we have to buy," said MoDOT Regional Engineer Scott Meyer. "The excess property is adjacent property. If the landowner wants it he will have to pay market value."Previously it was reported that Drury simply would donate his right of way, but Miller said a land swap was part of the agreement from the start.

In February, the cities of Jackson and Cape Girardeau and the Cape Girardeau County Commission committed to an intergovernmental agreement aimed at hastening improvements to the interchange, which is known as Center Junction. Under the agreement, Drury will develop property he holds on all four sides of the intersection and will sign a $1 million letter of credit to service the debt on the improvements until his properties begin generating tax revenues.

The transportation corporation would issue construction bonds and pay the up-front costs of making the improvements. MoDOT would buy back the improvements on completion.

The plan would enable the project, now scheduled for completion by MoDOT in 2006 or 2007, to be finished as soon as three years earlier.

MoDOT's plans call for moving westbound lanes of U.S. 61 closer to the eastbound lanes and moving I-55 access ramps farther away from the interchange to improve turning movement.

Meyer said the amount of excess right of way is very roughly triple the amount of land Drury would be giving up. By law, the adjacent landowner has first right of refusal to buy excess right of way.

Steve Wilson, Jackson's city administrator, said the proposal may be approved by the commission with the amendments or may not. "We won't know much until the commission meeting next week," he said.

The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission will consider the proposal to form the corporation at its meeting at 9 a.m. Friday at the Show Me Center.

Jim Mello, St. Louis-based attorney for the transportation corporation, could not be reached for comment.

Jackson Mayor Paul Sander said he expects the commission to approve the proposal with its staff recommendations and is still hoping for the best outcome. "I hope and pray this doesn't spoil the whole thing," he said. "This is one of the best things the two cities and the county have done in many years, and it would be a shame if it all fell through."Miller said the government entities and Drury will have to sit down with the MoDOT recommendation "and decide whether this could still be done."If the project is stopped by the conditions, Meyer said the project will go back through the state's prioritization and selection process. "Should the deal fall through, the commission is not making a carte blanche commitment to build this project no matter what," said Meyer.

The Jackson Board of Aldermen and the Cape Girardeau City Council are scheduled to take up resolutions supporting the formation of the I-55 Jackson-Cape Girardeau Corridor Projects Transportation Corporation at their meetings Monday. The Cape Girardeau County Commission approved a similar resolution at its meeting Oct. 21.