Two years of commentary and planning for the Springfield area’s transportation system will be up for review and approval Thursday, when the Ozarks Transportation Organization presents a $2.7 billion long-range transportation plan to its board of directors.
Roadways comprise the largest piece of the plan, with related improvement and construction projects carrying an estimated cost of $1.75 billion.
The OTO is a federally designated metropolitan planning organization, which creates and maintains transportation goals for Springfield and Christian counties and the cities of Springfield, Battlefield, Nixa, Ozark, Republic, Strafford and Willard.
OTO Executive Director Sara Fields said the group has received 483 online and postal mail surveys so far during the public comment period. Public input was gathered as part of OTO’s Plan 2040, which outlines transportation infrastructure construction and upgrades for the Springfield area over the next 24 years.
Fields said available state and federal funds over the life of the plan are around $1.57 billion for Plan 2040, roughly $1.13 billion short of the total amount needed.
“We’re assuming the same revenue projections over time, but in a 25-year plan you don’t always know what’s going to happen, and that’s why we revisit the plan every five years,” Fields said.
She said increased funding from the Missouri Department of Transportation through the federal Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act and the DED’s Statewide Transportation Improvement Program will help complete some projects in the near term, but initiating others, such as $600 million to upgrade Springfield’s transit system, is unlikely.
“Even with the sunnier projections, we’re still short,” Fields said.
In addition to roughly $10 million worth of bicycle and pedestrian improvements, including trails, the plan calls for the expansion of many of Springfield’s major highways.
Fields said public comments mentioned expanding the following roads, labeled as high-priority projects in the draft version of Plan 2040:
• Highway 160, six lanes from Springfield to Nixa;
• Interstate 44, six lanes;
• James River Freeway, six lanes from Highway 65 to West Bypass;
• widening Highway 14 from west of Nixa to east of Ozark; and
• Highway 65, six lanes from James River Freeway to Highway F in Ozark.
“With a growing population, people are interested in those main roads that affect their commute,” Fields said.
Field said past projects have included widening Highway 65 to six lanes in Springfield; improvements at the Highway 60 and Highway 65 interchange; and the construction of diverging diamond interchanges around the area – one of the most recent being at the Highway CC and Highway 65 overpass in Ozark.
“We’re growing so quickly – the population and the number of vehicles on the road are increasing – so we’re just controlling growth,” Fields said of the proposed projects in Springfield.
She said the organization would continue to accept public comments on the plan through Wednesday.
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