The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) says it will take at least $90-million to redesign and replace Jefferson City’s aging tri-level and a nearby expressway.
MoDOT central district engineer Michelle Watkins tells 939 the Eagle’s “Wake Up Mid-Missouri” that the location would have to be studied in-detail.
“We estimate in the high-priority unfunded needs list that an improvement there would be at least $40-million. And that location has another need right next to it identified in the document, and that’s the Rex Whitton Expressway. You’d have to sort of look at those together to be sure that they would work and function well together,” Watkins says.
Ms. Watkins tells listeners that the Whitton Expressway project would cost about $53-million. She describes replacing the tri-level as a large-scale need that’s complex.
“You’ve got three major highways converging in basically the same area. You got about 86,000 vehicles a day coming through that general area. And it’s right up against a river (Missouri River), and it’s in the heart of Jefferson City,” says Watkins.
She says there are a number of businesses and development in the area as well.
Governor Mike Parson has called on MoDOT to consider redesigning that interchange, after this month’s tractor trailer crash and fuel spill that closed busy southbound Highway 54 for five hours. MoDOT says the tri-level bridges were built in 1964 and that the “flyover” bridges were built in 1991.
