With U.S. 50/63 traffic passing underneath, students from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Jefferson City stood on the Chestnut Street overpass and cut a ribbon to ceremonially open the new Lafayette Street Interchange that began carrying traffic five weeks ago.
Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce President Randy Allen told the News Tribune: "Most of the traffic that goes through here, east and west, goes along Highway 50, so this will become a gateway - the place where we get off to a lot of the things that we have (including) downtown, the old Missouri State Penitentiary, the federal courthouse, Lincoln University and Jefferson City High School."
The state Transportation department designed and managed the project, with Jefferson City and Cole County governments contributing some funding for it.
Dave Silvester, MoDOT's Central District engineer, told those gathered at Friday morning's ceremony: "In a project of this magnitude that has been going on almost a full two years, we really appreciate the patience of the citizens of Jefferson City, Cole County and those who visit the area."
He continued: "It's a safety project. We feel that, any time we can add lanes like we've done here between the interchanges and provide access that actually gets people to where they're going, faster - it's a safety issue, and it also provides economic development."
When the expressway was built in the 1960s, it included an interchange at Clark Avenue and grade-level intersections at Monroe, Madison, Jefferson and Broadway streets - but it crossed over Lafayette with no interchange.
In recent years, the Chamber of Commerce pushed for the new interchange, and then-U.S. Sen. Kit Bond helped pay for it with designated federal funding.
Work on the more than $20 million project began in early 2015.
Chip Jones, branch manager for Emery Sapp and Sons, the Columbia-based general contractor on the project, also thanked motorists for their patience.
"We're in danger every day, when our guys and gals are out there working," he said, also thanking Jefferson City police for their ongoing efforts to encourage motorists to reduce their speed in the work zones.
Future funding issues
But Jones added a somber note to Friday's celebration.
"This is a bittersweet moment for me because we get to turn over a beautiful project to Jeff City," he said. "But on the other hand, we've got to go someplace else and work.
"And unfortunately, there's not a lot of work in Missouri of this magnitude, so we're having to branch out to other states - and that's not good for our guys and gals, because they don't get to be at home at night like a lot of us do."
Looking at state Senate Majority Leader Mike Kehoe, R-Jefferson City and a former Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission member, Jones said: "I just hope that at some point we can figure out how to get the funding, Senator, and get the transportation that's due in the state - because we deserve a lot better."
Silvester said MoDOT currently is "in a maintenance mode with our construction money, (just) taking care of the (nearly) 34,000 miles of road that we have and the 10,000-plus bridges. We're not building a lot of new projects or new roads."
Many Mid-Missourians want to see U.S. 50 as a four-lane road across the state - but it's only two lanes wide between California and Sedalia and from Linn to I-44 east of Union.
Others want to see U.S. 63 as a four-lane road from the Osage River to Rolla.
Neither can happen under MoDOT's current budget, Silvester said.
"Those are very expensive needs and definitely not things we're going to be able to do with the funding that we have," he said.
Kehoe told reporters he hopes a new governor and some new lawmakers will help the state find a solution to raising the $500 million a year needed to get back to a regular construction budget for the state's road-and-bridge system.
Currently, Missouri pays for that work through federal funds and the state's 17-cents-a-gallon tax on motor fuels.
"Each penny of fuel tax produces about $30 million," he said. "I'm not so sure that many folks are going to support 20 or 30 cents (more) on a fuel tax - I certainly wouldn't."
Kehoe said a future funding package may have to use a combination of sources, including fuel and sales taxes and perhaps some private money as well.
He acknowledged voters rejected a proposed sales tax increase for transportation a few years ago.
"Since, the conditions of the roads have deteriorated and more bridges have closed, and hardly any - if any - projects like this (Lafayette Interchange) are happening across the state," Kehoe said.
"The problem with the fuel tax (only) model is that it's getting a little bit worse every year, as cars become more fuel efficient and as (electric) cars charge from the wall in your house or garage."
Alternative fuels like propane or liquefied natural gas are not taxed as motor fuels but are used in vehicles now using the highway system.
So, he said, the fuels tax "is not as high of a revenue source as you look to future years."
Decorative lights
Saying they're a waste of money, some newspaper readers have complained about the extra pylons and the LED lights that were added to the Chestnut and Jackson street overpasses at local officials' request and $1.5 million local expense.
Silvester said during Friday morning's ceremony: "They don't just come on, but they do special stuff.
"They can turn different colors - so don't be surprised if you come through some day and they're blue for a Lincoln University event, red for a Jefferson City High School event (or) pink for breast cancer awareness."
He said the lights have "a wide range of colors (so) we're looking forward to what these will do."
Additional lights will be added eventually to the expressway bridge over Lafayette Street, "probably within the next couple of months," Silvester said.
Allen said: "It's not a substantial amount of money, that that money could be used on an ongoing basis for other things.
"This project was created as a gateway to enter Jefferson City, and in a lot of other communities, these kinds of things are done to enhance the gateway, to make people believe that this is a first-class community."