MoDOT gears up for 2006

That’s the challenge facing Becky Baltz in her new job as district engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation’s Southwest District, based in Joplin.

Baltz shared the No. 2 job in Springfield’s district, assistant district engineer, with Matt Seiler but takes the helm in Joplin on Jan. 2. She replaces Richard Walter, who is retiring.

“I’m real excited to get the job and get started in the Joplin district,” Baltz said.

Kevin Keith, MoDOT’s chief engineer, said Baltz beat five other qualified applicants.

“Becky was really the best fit and the unanimous choice … to be the district engineer in Joplin,” he said.

Baltz’s boss for the last four years, Springfield district engineer Dale Ricks, said he’s witnessed her abilities firsthand and believes she’ll do a bang-up job.

“She will do very well,” said Ricks, noting her experience as assistant district engineer was “ideal training” for her new post.

Ricks said a new assistant district engineer for Springfield should be hired by February.

Baltz has been with MoDOT since 1984 and holds civil engineering and engineering management degrees from the University of Missouri-Rolla.

In Joplin, she will be responsible for 3,376 miles of roadway in 11 counties with a population of 280,000. Her 2006 operating budget is $41.3 million and her 2006 construction budget is $170 million.

Joplin projects

According to MoDOT’s community relations department, there are four major Joplin-area projects in 2006 and beyond.

• State Route 249/Range Line bypass is meant to take traffic east of Joplin on four lanes that run between Interstate 44 and Highway 171. Construction began in 1998 and should conclude in 2008. Multiple projects contracted to APAC Missouri Inc. along Route 249 will cost $46 million in 2006. “The hope is, aside from the fact that it will take some traffic off of Range Line Road in Joplin, that it will be the catalyst for development in eastern Jasper County,” said spokesman Kent Boyd.

• Widening of Highway 71 into a four-lane freeway continues. Highway 71 runs from Kansas City south into Arkansas. Four-lane construction started in 1993 and should conclude in 2007. Only an eight-mile stretch from Pineville to the Arkansas state line has yet to be turned into four lanes. Freesen Inc. and APAC Missouri are contractors. The freeway’s completion will cost $47.5 million. Business coalitions have pushed the idea of turning Highway 71 into an interstate that would run from Kansas City to New Orleans. However, Boyd said no plans exist to take that action. The cost of turning Missouri’s portion of Highway 71 into interstate would be about $345 million, according to MoDOT spokeswoman Wendy Brunner-Lewis.

• Work to widen Highway 13, which runs from Springfield to Clinton, to four lanes has been ongoing since 2001 and should conclude in 2009 with the final two miles that will bypass Collins. The additions to Highway 13 at Collins, which are slated to start in 2007, should cost $24.5 million.

• Resurfacing work worth $29 million will be accomplished in the Joplin district in 2006. Partly normal upkeep, the work is a result of $400 million set aside statewide for a smooth-roads initiative that sprung from 2004’s Amendment 3. “We’re going to have most of I-44 under construction (in 2006),” Baltz said.

Springfield projects

Meanwhile, Ricks and his crew in Springfield’s district will be busy with $127 million in 2006 road construction – double the normal construction budget because of Amendment 3 funds, according to Ricks. He has a 2006 operating budget of $45 million and oversees 3,700 miles of roadway in 12 counties with a population of more than 500,000.

According to Ricks, there are three major Springfield-area projects in 2006 and beyond.

• I-44’s interchange with Highway 65 is receiving a new flyover ramp. One leg of the cloverleaf exchange will be removed in lieu of the ramp to ease traffic consolidation. Commuters traveling north on Highway 65 will use the ramp to exit onto westbound I-44. Construction on the $23 million project is slated to start in the summer and finish in 2008.

• West Bypass is widening to four lanes between Chestnut Expressway and Kearney Street. MoDOT awarded the $12.8 million contract to APAC Missouri. Work could start this month and should conclude in 2007. “We’re going to have a lot of orange barrels for people to go around,” Ricks said.

• Resurfacing of 214 miles of Springfield-area roadway in 2006 will cost $20 million, part of the smooth roads initiative, according to Andy Mueller, operations engineer.

“This next year … is going to be probably the busiest year that MoDOT maybe has ever had,” Ricks said. “It’s going to be a very, very active year.”