Interchange to be built at D, U.S. 71 highways

After hearing public support for the move during a meeting at Rich Hill High School Wednesday, the Missouri Department of Transportation will be moving ahead with an interchange at Highway 71 and Route D, according to MoDOT project manager Sean Matlock,

The Vernon County Commissioners were on hand to give MoDOT their input and after the meeting Southern Commissioner Kennon Shaw said the crowd was near unanimous in choosing to proceed with the interchange instead of going with an outer road option. Both options would cost approximately the same, $4 million.

"They were talking about an outer road from DD Highway that goes to Rinehart and Metz and they decided they'd put an interchange there, when they weren't sure what they were going to do before," Shaw said. "There was one person wanted an outer road and the rest of them wanted an interchange. The outer road would have just gone back to Horton and most people wanted to go south so they voted for the interchange."

Matlock said the interchange had been planned for years -- since the 1960s -- and the land for it already has been purchased. The outer road option was considered because someone had requested MoDOT reconsider putting in outer roads.

"We had two options, the first option was to just build the interchange at Route D from when we bought the right-of-way for it back in the '70s or '60s," Matlock said. "There was a proposal from the community that in lieu of building the interchange that we use that money and build Route DD along the west side up to the Horton interchange and then we'd have enough money left over that on the east side we could build an outer road from Horton to the Route two T (TT). Basically, what we got from the people here --and I'd estimate there were close to a hundred people here -- out of that hundred people 98 voted for the interchange."

Matlock also noted MoDOT appreciates the participation of the public in meetings because it helps in making decisions.

Matlock said one of the reasons cited for the strong support for the interchange was the response time in case of emergencies.

"The majority of the concerns for the people who wanted the interchange was response time for emergency services from Nevada," Matlock said. "The traveling the 1.8 miles to Horton then traveling 1.8 miles back to get back to where they were. They felt that as far as outer roads there was some concern about farm equipment, when 71 becomes interstate you have to be able to travel 40 miles an hour and farm equipment just can't go that fast, and thus that was the push for the outer road. They felt for the most part farmers could use the county roads to get around."

A similar discussion was held concerning the fate of the Old Town Access Road interchange north of Rich Hill. The interchange option would cost $3.9 million and the outer road option would cost from $5 million to $6.4 million. That discussion was less lively and took less time than the one concerning the Route D interchange, a fact the presenter noted during his talk.

The options provided were to construct a half-diamond interchange, which is what MoDOT had planned or build outer roads from Rich Hill, which had been requested by citizen input. The public expressed some concerns about access on the outer roads during floods and the loss of gravel.

Dan Salisbury, assistant district engineer, said the outer roads would be paved, probably with asphalt, close to the bridges where flooding would be most likely to occur; and farther away from the low areas gravel or rock would be used, noting that access during floods was unwise and unsafe as only fields were involved and no one should travel on the outer roads during that time.

Several people questioned how far north the outer roads would extend and were told that it depended on the property owners involved. The department offered to build the roads as far as property owners would deed over land for them but said the township would be responsible for maintenance.

"We're not talking about them donating land," Salisbury said. "We think of it as trading land for a road and road is more valuable. We'd love to go further, it just costs a lot of money, and that's where we went 'OK, we'll go as far as the property owners, and whoever takes care of the roadway want to go.' If we get folks to take over the road and get folks to donate in through there we would build the roadway."

Salisbury was asked if the state would come back in later and extend the outer roads at a later date if more land became available, and replied that once the state finishes constructing the roadway the chance they would return later is small.

"I think it would be extremely hard," Salisbury said. "It's like any business that comes in and builds something, you have a budget for it one time. (In terms of) getting back on the priority, this won't rate this high as the whole 71 corridor. So I think it would be irresponsible of me to lead you on and say it's going to be easy in four to five years."

Most of the people expressing an opinion opted for the outer road option, some remained silent, and no one expressed an opposing view. Salisbury called several times for anyone dissenting from the outer road option to speak, and no one took him up on the offer.

"That's what we'll report back then, the outer road option is what is wanted," with respect to the Old Town Access Road, Salisbury said.

The time frame for the Old Town Access Road isn't as firm as for the Route D interchange because projects are proceeding generally from south to north plus Route D has already had the detailed plans for the interchange in place.

"If we get funding in 2011 we could see it toward the end of that year but it all depends on the funding," Salisbury said.