Ozarks Transportation Organization coordinates transit projects

A public comment period on modifications to the Ozarks Transportation Organization’s Transportation Improvement Program ended on April 19, but public comment wasn’t forthcoming. It seems that’s often the case at the OTO, a metropolitan planning organization that coordinates transportation infrastructure improvements, does long-range forecasting and produces the comprehensive Transportation Improvement Program commonly referred to as the TIPs document.

Marc Thornsberry, Public Works director for the city of Springfield, said the low level of public comment comes from good collaboration.

“Our region has been very successful with partnerships, working with (Missouri Department of Transportation) and working with each other,” Thornsberry said. “I know that Greene County and the city of Springfield have partnered on projects, as well as partnering with MoDOT, to advance high-priority transportation projects in the metro area. I think that businesses and taxpayers expect that from government. They expect government to work together and try to provide for those services and the needs that they have.”

According to Senior Planner Sara Edwards, public meetings for large projects draw the largest public response.

“We had a north/south corridor study and had a couple of meetings with 80 people for that,” Edwards said. “We held two sets of four public meetings. The question we were looking at was how to improve travel between Christian County and Greene County.”

OTO Executive Director Dan Rudge said people have often voiced their concerns to OTO board members, who are not shy about sharing them with the rest of the group.

OTO’s board is comprised of representatives of city and county governments in Greene and Christian counties, as well as members of City Utilities’ Board of Public Utilities, citizens-at-large and representatives of Springfield-Branson National Airport.

Transit improvements

The TIPs document contains information on all scheduled transportation improvements receiving federal dollars in the Ozarks, and Edwards said OTO tries to capture all other state and local transportation improvements for inclusion.

Updates to the TIPs document are seldom controversial. The latest comment period was in regard to the addition of an interchange improvement to the planned U.S. Highway 65 and Route 14 improvements and the reclassification of a local bridge improvement to be included under MoDOT’s Safe and Sound Bridge Program. This state program includes numerous bridge improvements across Missouri and will be paid for over time.

“It is actually saving us money in the short term since we are paying it out over 25 years,” Edwards said

Current OTO projections go out as far as 2030. There are a lot of challenges for the region’s transportation infrastructure and the OTO’s board members.

“We have done growth projections as far as population, and then what we do is a travel demand model,” Edwards said. “It distributes growth among our roadways, and … we’ve got a lot of congestion and a lot of need. Most of our roadways, assuming we don’t do something, are going to be above capacity.”

Population, cooperation

The Ozarks Transportation Organization was founded in 1963 and officially recognized in 1974, the same year federal law required a metropolitan planning organization for all areas with a population of at least 50,000. After the 2000 census, the OTO grew significantly.

“When we topped 200,000 (people), we gained an executive director,” Edwards said.

“We get a lot more federal money being a metropolitan area, both in terms of staffing and what’s allocated for transportation improvements,” she added.

Jerry Blair, director of transportation planning at the East-West Gateway Council of Governments based in St. Louis, said the level of cooperation among local OTO board members is unusual, but not unheard of, noting that each MPO reflects the culture of the communities it serves.

Rudge, who worked for several MPOs nationwide before coming to the Ozarks, was surprised at the level of consent exhibited at the OTO when he came Springfield.

“Coming here and finding that everything was done unanimously and by unanimous consent was the first time I’d ever experienced that in my life,” Rudge said. “You would typically have at least one or two people who would dissent with the majority, and often the votes at other MPOs are very close.”

Evangel University President Robert Spence recently joined the OTO board, representing the Springfield-Branson National Airport, and he said that while everyone may not always agree, the OTO board is working together.

“It would be understandable that they would have some divergent views,” Spence said. “It is my conviction that they are dedicated to helping Springfield, and the entire region, be the very best that it can be. They know that to accomplish that there must be cooperation and collaboration. No single governmental entity can do it all by themselves.”

Leading the OTO

Ozarks Transportation Organization’s board of directors:

Harold Bengsch, Greene County commissioner

Jim Bresee, consultant representing Christian County

Tom Carlson, Springfield mayor

Bob Chancellor, Springfield citizen-at-large

Dave Coonrod, Greene County presiding commissioner

TBA, city of Strafford alderman

J. Howard Fisk, Fisk Limousines, citizen-at-large

Gary Deaver, Springfield City Councilman

Teri Hacker, Springfield citizen-at-large

Jamie Schoolcraft, Willard mayor

Ralph Manley, Springfield City Councilman

Doug Marrs, Nixa mayor

Don Watts, Ozark mayor

Robert Spence, Springfield-Branson National Airport board representative

Dennis Robbins, Republic alderman

Judy Stainback, Battlefield mayor

Phil Wannenmacher, City Utilities representative

There also are nonvoting federal representatives on the OTO board and a 10-member group of alternates.

Source: Ozarks Transportation Organization