Commissioners choose county transportation priorities with help from MRPC, area engineer

By Laura Schiermeier, Staff Writer
Posted 11/9/22

VIENNA — At the Oct. 17 Maries County Commission meeting transportation was the main issue of the day.

That morning, Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman said Meramec Regional Planning …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

Commissioners choose county transportation priorities with help from MRPC, area engineer

Posted

VIENNA — At the Oct. 17 Maries County Commission meeting transportation was the main issue of the day.

That morning, Presiding Commissioner Victor Stratman said Meramec Regional Planning Commission’s (MRPC) Bonnie Prigge and Anne Freand and Missouri Department of Transportation’s (MoDOT)  Meramec Area Engineer Preston Kramer would be coming to the meeting to discuss the county’s transportation priorities. Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) member Steve Vogt also came with the group.

Stratman suggested some projects for the commissioners to consider, based on what they had selected the previous year.

He mentioned M-422, the Highway 28 bridge over Dry Fork Creek which is a narrow two-lane bridge, built in 1929, which is in poor condition. It is scheduled for replacement. That bridge has been added to the Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP) which sets forth the specific construction projects MoDOT will undertake in the next five years.

Other projects mentioned were M-424, which is the Route P bridge over Lanes Fork Creek, built in 1967, which is in poor condition and has been added to the STIP. Another bridge added to the STIP is M-427, a bridge in poor condition on Route C over the Peavine Creek. The bridge was built in 1965 and is in poor condition.

Stratman said a top Maries County priority is M-428, which proposes adding turn lanes on Highway 63 at the Highway 28 intersection at the Vichy Wye/airport. It is a spot prone to accidents and vehicles are getting rear-ended. Also, Stratman said he’d like to see if that project might be combined with M-415, which proposes lengthening the southbound acceleration lane on Highway 63 at Highway A. Stratman commented the current climbing lane is too short and people who aren’t used to the spot move over into the turn lane and then they can’t get out because Highway 63 traffic is passing them on the left side.

Western District Commissioner Ed Fagre said when the Fly Creek bridge on MCR 213 is being replaced next year, the detour will be a long way around, about 10 miles. He talked to Chuck Sandbothe who said it may be possible to make a bypass on his land if this is allowed. 

Stratman said other sites they might consider for the priorities are the intersection of Highway 42 West and Highway 133 and widening Highway 28 with additional shoulders as a safety issue. This would be for Highway 28 the whole length of the county, from Dixon to Belle. MoDOT has a one inch overlay planned for fiscal year 2025-26. 

He also mentioned M-426, turn lanes on Highway 63 at Quaker Window Products in Maries County. The area engineer comments on this project noted a left-turn lane would be more beneficial that a right-turn lane. This was proposed as a cost share project between Quaker and the state with an estimated cost of $500,000 to $600,000. Stratman said when Quaker gets out of work it’s hard for the employees to get on the highway.

Fagre said they took some bushes out at Breaktime in Vienna and it is a safety improvement for that intersection. If you were in a low vehicle on Highway 42 West at the Highway 63 intersection, it was hard to see. 

The group discussed transportation needs on the state system. Prigge said they work with MoDOT to bring new transportation needs to the list. She also handed out a list of high priority unfunded needs and said they also will discuss changes in the BRO bridge process. With the STIP, she said these are approved every July. On the website it tells the fiscal year the projects will be funded. Projects are fully funded for three years and partially funded for years four and five. Funding for the projects is from state and federal gasoline taxes. The pandemic caused problems with funding. Prigge said once a project is in the STIP, it is an obligation.

Good and bad news

Kramer said in July they had good news as there was an increase in transportation investment. Missouri’s gasoline tax was increased and the federal transportation bill had 20-percent higher funding. The 2022 five-year STIP was the largest funding ever approved and encompasses a lot of work. Kramer said four years ago they were talking about not being able to maintain what the state had and discussed closing bridges. It’s better now and they will be able to improve safety and increase economic development. Some projects were moved into the STIP. There is an increased support in transportation investment.

Eastern District Commissioner Doug Drewel asked about persons with electric vehicles and how they can help pay for transportation infrastructure if they don’t buy gasoline and pay those taxes. Kramer said that will be up to elected officials. He said in Oklahoma it’s toll roads that pays for roads; in Missouri it’s from the sale of gasoline.

Kramer said the bad news is the first time in over two decades, there is significant investment in transportation, but there is a pretty big backlog of projects. It will take time to undo the damage of underfunding this area. Also, there is double-digit inflation on construction costs, up about 30 percent. This will impact MoDOT’s ability to do the projects. 

But, these are exciting times and Gov. Mike Parson has given MoDOT more money from general revenue, making it a priority with $300 million put toward bridges. It will be bridges already programmed and is a one-time pot. This session $100 million was put toward low volume roads. These are roads with less than 400 vehicles a day. Federal money can’t be used for these low volume roads, most of which are located in the northern part of Missouri. Parson also set aside a governor’s cost share program with $75 million. This has not been awarded yet, and the governor may ask for more. 

Highway 63

Highway 63 remains at the top of the high priority unfunded road and bridge needs in the Meramec Region. Kramer said there was a Highway 63 corridor study in 2009. They divided the cooridor into seven segments in Osage, Maries and Phelps counties and estimated replacement and some realignments at $250 million for the whole length. The northern-most piece from Highway 50 to south of the Maries River bridge in Westphalia to Route T in Osage County, about five miles, has been moved into the STIP. Kramer said they anticipate it will be ready to build in 2027. This is a new situation as for years talk of replacing sections of Highway 63 has been just that — talk. But now, for the first time ever, the northern segment is in the STIP. 

Kramer said engineering work is starting and he’ll know more in two years. The new Highway 63 in that segment will be on a new alignment. In 2024-25 MoDOT will begin buying right-of-way. The new highway will bypass Westphalia on the west side. MoDOT will hold public meetings. Drewel asked about the ballfields in Westphalia being taken by the road and Kramer said it may not touch the ballfields or the soccer fields.

Kramer said the project to improve the intersection at Highway 63 and I-70 in Columbia is in the works. It is a troublesome intersection.

County needs

The talk turned to Maries County transportation needs. M-401 is Highway 42 functional safety needs from Vienna to Belle. Kramer said they continue to make progress with asphalting county road approaches at all state highways, which is M-407.

He said on Highway 63 south of the Gasconade River, MoDOT will stay with the alignment which was done in the 1980s.

They spoke of non-road and bridge transportation needs. M-420 is increased rural transportation, OATS for example serves Maries County. There will be more needs for this as time goes on. M-421 is converting the inactive Rock Island Railway into a hiking trail. Prigge said Owensville got a grant for the portion of the trail in the city limits and Belle got funding through DNR. Prigge said Gasconade County is looking at it and Freand said flat areas are less expensive to construct. Drewel said the area beyond Belle, with the Gasconade Bridge is the tourist attraction on the old railroad line. Prigge said yes, and it’s also the most expensive.

Moving on, Kramer said M-422, the bridge over Dry Fork Creek at Liberty Hill has been funded. There will be a signed detour on Highway 63 and Highway 42 and motorists will not be using county roads. Also funded are M-424 Route P bridge and M-427 Route C bridge. There will be message boards on Routes P and C during construction. These bridges will be removed from the needs list next fall. 

M-429, Highway 28 in Belle with sidewalk/pedestrian connections in town with a crosswalk from Dollar General to Highway 89 intersection, will remain on the list.

Recommendations

Vogt said in Belle, at the intersection of Highway 28 and First Street, the road goes over the railroad track with a big hump and it is vision impairing. Kramer said he’s not sure MoDOT would be able to do anything there.

Vogt said through Belle Highway 89 has been crowned and is higher than the sidewalk. It needs to be milled down. Kramer said they can add it to the list as a rebuild, but it can’t be milled down. It was added to the list as M-430. Prigge said that work would be a cost to the city as well. 

Stratman said Old Highway 63 needs an overlay and Kramer said not by the state. Stratman said there are complaints about Highway AA as there are sinks, or settled places. Highway Z also has this. Kramer responded that clay mines “didn’t do us any favors.” There is not much money available for low volume routes but they plan to start. “We are playing catch-up because of underspending on transportation and this is the result.”

Potholes

Kramer is a Maries County resident who lives on a county road. Drewel said the roads tend to get potholes on low spots. Stratman said it takes a long time to get a road solid. Drewel said some of the county’s roads were started by putting gravel on the ground and had no base built up.

Priorities

The commissioners had to rank their top county transportation priority choices. They put M-428, the Highways 63 and 28/Vichy Wye/airport intersection southbound left turn lane as the county’s number one priority. Kramer said they will look at traffic and see where they are turning. He thinks the southbound left turn lane on Highway 63 may be best. “I am a fan of turn lanes,” he said. Stratman asked if they can package that project with the Highway 63 extended climbing lanes at Highway A. Kramer said no, they are separate needs.

For the number two priority, the commissioners chose M-406, which is safety improvements at the Highway 42/133 “Y” intersection. Kramer said there’s also a problem at the 42 West/133 “T” intersection as there’s not a lot of sight distance there. He thinks the “Y” and the “T” intersections can be packaged together.

The third priority chosen was M-412, safety improvements with adding shoulders to Highway 28 throughout the entire county.

They chose M-405 as the fourth priority. This is safety improvements at the “Y” intersection of Highways 63/28, south of Vienna. Kramer said they don’t need a safety audit of that intersection as MoDOT already has the answer. “It requires land acquisition and moving utilities,” he said. They proposed moving the intersection 200 feet south of the north intersection and bringing it in the curve for a 90 degree intersection. It would have more than adequate sight there. Stratman said if the state ever redoes Highway 63, this project may become moot. Kramer said that segment of Highway 63 is on Tier 2 of the unfunded needs list. “It’s still a non-standard intersection.” He added if Highway 63 is realigned, it will reduce traffic in Maries County. Incidentally, Maries County has not had any traffic fatalities this year. 

A fifth priority is M-415, the Highway 63 climbing/acceleration lane at Highway A. 

$500 million

Kramer said with the increase in transportation funding, they want to be ready with projects and are compiling a list of $500 million in projects, delivered in five to ten years. 

In the Central District there is $56 million in Tier 1, $225 million in Tier 2 and $225 million in Tier 3.

The first section of Highway 63 is estimated to cost $30 million, but Kramer said they still don’t have a lot of information. They look at capacity as it may be a four-lane highway. That means there is a pretty aggressive grown rate in traffic volume, a 3.5 percent rate over 30 years. A high traffic volume is over 20,000 vehicles a day. This is when a four-lane road is recommended. They also look at safety. Kramer said a lot of access points ticks up the likelihood of accidents. He said they aren’t far enough along yet. 

Unfunded priorities

The three unfunded sections of Highway 63 top the list of unfunded priorities. 

Prigge asked the commissioners to rank the county’s multi-model priorities. On the list were two dealing with the Rolla National Airport, one with the Rock Island Trail and one with the sidewalk in Belle. Drewel asked about the additional road into the airport at Vichy and Prigge said that was added to the list when they were talking about industrial development at the airport. 

They talked about ride-sharing and the OATS bus and Stratman said there’s not much need in the county. Prigge said they are surveying this now. Fagre googled it and said the OATS bus runs two days a month in the county. 

Stratman said the hiking trail is more viable but the landowners don’t like it.

Vogt suggested adding the Belle sidewalk to the priority list. 

Drewel said the airport is more important than the trail and they may get more grants later for it.

BRO process

Kramer said the BRO program is federally funded and this currently has been increased and another bridge program has been added. In the old days, Missouri allotted the BRO money to each county, but some could only achieve small amounts and the program was not working for all counties. Now, they will handle it per district. It’s competitive but there is more money. Any public bridge on the off-state system is eligible. Most of these bridges are county or city bridges.

Kramer said Maries County’s number one priority was funded. This is the bridge over Fly Creek on MCR 213. Kramer said they want a three-year rolling program. Next year the county will provide another priority and keep the list going. The goal is to get as many bridges done as possible and upgrade low-water crossings to bridges. It is competition-based and they will rank the projects until the money runs out.

Prigge said this year every county in the district got its number one choice.

Maries County has five bridges on the list of projects that qualify for federal fund through the BRO program. Two of them are in Road One. The Fly Creek bridge, built in 1940 and in poor condition has been funded. The bridge over the Maries River on MCR 614 qualifies. It was built in 1940 and is in poor condition.

The remaining three bridges are in Road Two. The bridge one the Upper Peavine Creek on MCR 411 was built in 1985 and is identified as in poor condition. Drewel said they had work done on it as it was being undermined and it was fixed. Kramer said he will pull the inspection report and look into it. It may come off the list. The remaining two bridges that qualify for BRO are the bridge over of Lower Peavine on MCR 405, which was built in 1940. Also the bridge over Spring Creek on MCR 519, off of Highway A, which is the oldest on the list as it was built in 1930. 

Highway 89 Bridge

The top engineer in the region was at their meeting so the commissioners had the opportunity to ask Kramer about the Highway 89 bridge. This is a project completed not long ago and they questioned the driving surface.

Kramer said, “The bridge is fine. The ride is not.” He said it was supply chain problems that impacted the project. The supplies needed for the bridge are purchased once the project is awarded. The problem was not being able to get the finger joints. MoDOT worked with the contractor to do a work around and had to revise how they did it. He said the bridge is structurally sound and probably this year will get a very thin surface work, which will make it better. 

Swan Creek will be open at the end of the month.