If it’s true that nothing dies harder than a bad idea, then we might be witnessing such a slow, painful death. Unless the majority of responders to the Kansas Expressway south extension – dubbed southwest Missouri’s own “road to nowhere” – got it wrong, and the slow-to-develop proposal really is the answer to bottleneck traffic between Christian and Greene counties.
Billed as “a forum for cooperative decision-making” in regional transportation matters, the Ozarks Transportation Organization this month has received more than 70 impassioned letters about the potential to bring Kansas Expressway from Republic Road to Weaver Road with a long-term vision of connecting to an east-west arterial in Christian County.
The public comments came in advance of the Oct. 16 OTO meeting in which the board gave its stamp of approval to extend Kansas. The recommendation now moves to the U.S. Department of Transportation, which may approve $2.4 million toward design and environmental work, before Greene County officials would have the final say in the estimated $30 million project.
With the idea still alive and the debate not over, I combed through the public comments for the most compelling arguments. Here’s what I dug out, relative to the number in favor and opposed. (In the interest of full disclosure, I have lived in southwest Springfield since moving here in 2000.)
Then, one comment stopped me.
“If a real plan could be developed, like say [state Route] 367 in north St. Louis, which eliminated all the traffic signals, that would make the existing roadway more than adequate. … A detour will not fix a behind-the-times infrastructure issue.” —Jerry Mercer
Thank you, Mr. Mercer. Springfield is not the first city or metro area growing into our 160,000-population status and facing regional traffic congestion. Mercer’s suggestion sounds like an extension of the brilliantly planed Route 360 that connected James River Freeway to Interstate 44 and completed the highway loop around Springfield.
While I agree with the stated objections to extend Kansas, I don’t strongly oppose the idea if it is the best solution. But I don’t think the Kansas “road to nowhere” will get us where we want to be in another decade or two. It seems like a quick fix.
Why not consider extending 360 south along the West Bypass corridor and on into Christian County? It would take a multiyear reconstruction project and upgrading the Bypass to freeway status, just like the 2007 conversion of nine miles in St. Louis County.
Surely, we’re willing to at least listen to another city’s long-term solution. The ball is clearly now in the Greene County planners’ court.
Springfield Business Journal Editor Eric Olson can be reached at eolson@sbj.net.[[In-content Ad]]
