No. 7: MoDOT plans along Highway 60 cause alarm for businesses, future development

A group of businesspeople sounded the alarm early in the year on planned roadway changes along U.S. Highway 60, beyond the U.S. Highway 65 interchange, that they say would disrupt their business interests and the potential for hundreds of acres of future development.

Changes by the Missouri Department of Transportation call for the removal of driveways and intersections with direct Highway 60 access along the stretch from 60/65 to Route 125 in Rogersville, with the existing interchange at Routes NN/J serving as the only access point to Highway 60, according to a draft plan document. Safety concerns and freeway considerations have been cited by the transportation agency, which intends to build outer roads from NN/J to the impacted business and residential areas.

“I feel like I’m fighting for a key corridor of our city,” said Tyler Padgitt, lead pastor at The Courageous Church, which has a campus at 4900 S. Farm Road 189, accessible through the Farm Road 189 intersection that crosses over Highway 60. “I know the potential it has. I know that Springfield needs to grow.”

In August, a group of business owners and leaders, including Padgitt, along with residents represented by the Highland Springs Community Association Inc., heightened their efforts against the roadway changes by issuing new letters of opposition to MoDOT and the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission.

The business owner petition, signed by 11 individuals, references a survey of stakeholders indicating their belief that the removal of the access points would cause revenue losses, lost tenants or closures, and reduced customer visits. Larry Childress was one stakeholder who signed the letter. He owns 600 acres of nearby land that he said is ripe for development, but direct roadway access is key.

The land could be developed alongside City Utilities of Springfield’s 1,000 acres around Lake Springfield to the southwest of the highway interchange. CU officials have said they are considering how its master plan for the site could be connected to the Childress land through a public-private partnership that would better position the area for development.

“This is a generational opportunity, in my opinion,” said Dean Thompson, CU vice president and chief economic development officer.

From MoDOT’s perspective, the roadway changes are needed. Project manager Bud Sherman said the initiative would assist the department in updating Highway 60 to a freeway designation from what’s “classified now as more of an expressway” and improve safety along the route.

“We have to find a way to be able to make that safer, and that’s MoDOT’s role,” he said. “We’re not in this to play politics. We’re in this to make sure we have a safe roadway system.”

On Dec. 15, Springfield City Council considered a measure to fund a study of the route in partnership with Greene County, CU and the Ozarks Transportation Organization, with a vote set for January.

But as the year comes to a close, business leaders’ and residents’ concerns remain, and the plan for the roadway changes are still up in the air.