The Illinois Department of Transportation will begin a study early next year to determine the route for an interstate highway that will link Cape Girardeau and Paducah.
The proposed Interstate 66 project will cross through the southernmost counties of Illinois. The first step is to draft an Environmental Impact Statement, or EIS.
Josh Kauffman is the spokesperson for IDOT.
“Obviously a project this huge and large takes some time out to either finalize some details regarding contracts and so forth,” Kauffman said. “We’re moving full steam ahead regarding the study process and we look forward to the next steps ahead as well.”
Kauffman says the study will determine the interstate’s potential effects on the environment and archaeological sites.
“Not only the environmental impacts of it, but also archaeological resources as well as let’s say there are any noise or any pollution factors as well as obviously the surface perspective of any potential interstate and so forth,” Kauffman said.
The US Department of Transportation approved 3.6 million dollars to evaluate the interstate’s most feasible route. The EIS will take approximately three years to complete, according to the IDOT website.