| MACON – MoDOT has announced that funding received from the Economic Recovery
Act will accelerate the north six-miles of the Alternate Route 63 project in
Kirksville about 18 months ahead of the original schedule. When talks began about the possibility of an Economic Recovery Package, MoDOT
took action preparing a list of projects the department could have under
contract within 180 days of the signing of a bill. Plans for the six-miles
between Route 6 north and Route 6 south were finalized and met the criteria for
this list of projects. “Since plans for the 2.5 miles south of Route 6 were not yet completed, we
decided to split the project to allow the north six miles to receive economic
recovery funding,” said Assistant District Engineer Kevin James. “We did not
want to miss this opportunity to move the project forward.” MoDOT will open contractor bids on the north six-mile project May 29. Those
bids will be considered for approval by the Highway Commission June 3; which
means the project could begin as early as August if not sooner. The project
should be open to traffic by August 2011. Work to complete the purchase of right of way and the design plans for the
2.5-mile south section is ongoing. A date to receive contractor bids will be set
once the plans are finalized. On or before completion of the first project in August 2011, the second
project will begin. The entire 8.5 mile project will be opened to traffic on or
before 2012. For more information, contact the MoDOT District 2 Customer Service Center
toll-free at 1-888-ASK MoDOT (275-6636). The center is open Monday through
Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. or visit our website at http://www.modot.org/northcentral. | 
