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Construction speeds up on 63
By Whitney McFerron
Published:
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Media Credit: Andrea Brown
Construction widening Highway 63 to four lanes between Kirksville and Macon already is in full swing, including a new bridge being constructed about 15 miles south of Kirksville in LaPlata. The expansion is scheduled to be completed in September 2005.
Although many students may not have noticed the progress, work to build a four-lane highway from Macon to Kirksville actually is ahead of schedule.
Rex Meneely, Kirksville City Council member and member of the Highway 63 Corporation Board of Directors, said the project to expand Highway 63 is nearly a year ahead of schedule and could be completed in less than two years.
"If weather and all conditions hold, they believe they can be open in September 2005," Meneely said.
He said workers have completed much of the preliminary groundwork for the project by moving fences, clearing trees and tearing down or moving homes along the highway. Meneely said the company is in the process of moving telephone lines and other utilities.
The Chester Bross Construction Company of Hannibal received the contract to complete the Highway 63 project last December.
Tim Bennett, project superintendent of Chester Bross Construction, said his company's progress is a little further behind than he had hoped. He said this is not a cause for great concern.
"We'd hoped already to have started on drainage structures," Bennett said. "We're hoping the clearing up of the weather will help us out in that."
Bennett said plans to begin laying pavement are set for September.
Kirksville residents pay for about one third of the highway project through a portion of the city's sales tax.
Meneely said the half-cent sales tax, which voters approved two years ago, is unlike anything that has ever been done before in Missouri.
"We are building a highway outside of the city limits, a good part of it out of our own county," Meneely said. "The people in this community have done something they should be extremely proud of."
Meneely said the sales tax should raise a little more than $1 million each year for the next 10 years to pay for the highway. He said the city has been able to make payments on the highway because the tax raised slightly more revenue than expected.
Meneely said the state will provide the remaining $20 million for development, mostly through a gasoline tax.
He said the declining economy does not pose any danger to the project because the state is obligated to pay under its contract.
The city of Macon also contributed $10,000 and plans to add $100,000 throughout the next 10 years, he said.
Meneely also said he and other members of the Highway 63 Corporation have met with Iowa officials and recently had a meeting with Ottumwa Mayor Dale Uehling to discuss expanding the highway north of Kirksville.
Larry Jackson, the Iowa Department of Transportation District 5 representative, said he could not predict when the possible expansion might begin.
He said the Iowa Department of Transportation made plans to add lanes to Highway 63 from Bloomfield to Ottumwa, but they were withdrawn because of budget constraints.
Uehling said plans to build a four-lane highway between Kirksville and Ottumwa are in the preliminary stages.
He said he hopes the highway between Bloomfield and Ottumwa will be expanded within the next five to seven years but was unsure about how long it would take to bring the expansions farther south.
"I'm sure it will be 10 years or more before we can get it finished between Bloomfield and Kirksville, if we can get it at all," Uehling said. "These things take time."
Meneely said the Missouri project has many benefits.
"When we're done, we have not only the jobs created, the highway built and a way to move more companies in and out of the community but also health and safety," Meneely said. "To me, it's a good overall thing for us to have."
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What type of meal plan will you have next year?
only meal blocks
bonus bucks only
meal blocks & dining dollars
I'll eat off campus
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