Diverging diamond interchange named top project

A Springfield interchange that’s the first of its kind in the U.S. was named among the American Public Works Association’s projects of the year.
 
Representatives of the Missouri Department of Transportation-District 8 and primary contractor Hartman & Co. Inc. are to be presented with the award during the association’s 2011 International Public Works Congress & Exposition Sept. 18–21 in Denver, according to an association news release. MoDOT is the project’s managing agency.
 
The diamond-shaped interchange, completed in 2009, is designed to handle heavy left-turn movement efficiently. Ramp configuration is similar to a traditional diamond interchange, but traffic on the cross route moves to the left side of the roadway between signalized ramp intersections. Moving the traffic to the left enables left-turning vehicles to enter the limited-access highway without the need for a left-turn signal phase at ramp intersections. Also, left-turning vehicles on the cross-route do not conflict with opposing through traffic and may turn without stopping, creating the “free-left” turning motion, the release said.
 
Honored in the category for transportation projects that cost less than $5 million, the $3 million interchange  is located where Kansas Expressway – aka Missouri State Highway 13 –  crosses over Interstate 44. With A Walmart Superstore and Lowe’s Home Improvement, two of the four corners at the intersection are high traffic retail destinations. The third corner is an outer road that backs up to a hotel and light commercial area, and the fourth is an entry point to Dickerson Park Zoo and Ozark Empire Fairgrounds, which hosts more than 140 events annually and generates spikes of high traffic. In addition to relieving traffic congestion, the project also saved money because it reused the existing bridge and did not require any new bridge construction – a difference of about $9 million, the release said.[[In-content Ad]]