City Beat: City Council tours traffic hot spots

The weekly council luncheon featured a bus tour of some of Springfield’s biggest traffic problem spots, as well as discussion about what is planned for those spots and how to fund needed improvements.

The tour traveled east on Chestnut Expressway to U.S. Highway 65, where Earl Newman, city assistant director of Public Works for traffic engineering, noted that intersection improvements are needed, but funding is not currently available.

“The problem is that there’s not a foreseeable sufficient amount of money available to do this interchange without some help, and even then, we’re not sure that we could do it all,” Newman told the group.

The city has estimated that about $10 million would be available for the Chestnut-U.S. 65 project – if, Newman said, the city can get nearby developers to contribute to the project. He added that it’s unclear if that $10 million would be enough to finish the entire intersection or if it would need to be completed in phases.

The project would tie into an already-planned widening project for Highway 65 from Chestnut Expressway south to Battlefield Road.

That widening would connect to the Missouri Department of Transportation improvements at the Highway 60-Highway 65 interchange, Newman said.

“The question then is whether we can pull together the money to do the 65/Chestnut interchange at the same time,” Newman said.

Other spots on the tour included the Highway 60-Glenstone Avenue intersection and projects on National Avenue at James River Freeway, Primrose Street, Battlefield Road, Seminole Street and Grant Street.

The intersection of National and James River could be the site of the city’s second “diverging diamond” design, which features north-bound and south-bound lanes that cross each other to remove the need to make left turns across traffic to enter and exit a highway.

The first diverging diamond design in Springfield is planned for Interstate 44 and Kansas Expressway; work there is expected to begin in early 2009. (See story on page 8.)

The National and James River intersection, which carries a price tag of about $11 million, would have the added feature of an underpass for emergency vehicles entering and exiting the emergency entrance to Cox South hospital. CoxHealth is so eager to see the work done that it has pledged $3 million to fund the underpass work.

“We’ve been working with the city and state for over a year, talking about the issues that we all face,” said Rod Schaffer, CoxHealth vice president of facility management. “Safe access to Cox South is essential to our service to the region, and the diverging diamond interchange will make that possible.”

It’s not the first time Cox has contributed to traffic improvements near its south campus; the health system donated right-of-way land near the National Avenue and Primrose Street intersection so the city could add dual left-turn lanes in 2007.

Proposed funding for most of the projects on the tour will come from a combination of the V-cent and N-cent sales taxes, as well as funding from MoDOT and Greene County.

The traffic tour also served to remind council members that the V-cent tax is up for renewal; voters will decide Aug. 5 whether to continue the tax. Without that money, area projects would have to rely solely on state and federal funding – meaning some could be delayed.

Public Works Director Marc Thornsberry noted that the tax would generate about $20 million in tax revenue that could be leveraged into $60 million through matching state and federal funds.

SBJ.net Poll

Which planned Springfield road project is most urgent?

Vote at sbj.net/poll.