Use of local money on interchange explained

Cole County government paid more than 62 percent of the local costs for the Lafayette interchange "extras," Finance Director Debbie Malzner told the News Tribune Monday.

Both governments are paying their shares from sales tax revenues, she said.

"The county is paying $832,834.10," Malzner said in an email, while Jefferson City government's share was $500,000.

"It not only covers the decorative lighting," she said, "but also paid for the decorative retaining walls, bridge columns, decorative railings and any other enhancements to the interchange above and beyond what MoDOT would pay for."

MoDOT designed and supervised construction of the $20 million Lafayette Street interchange project completed this fall - except for the ongoing rehabilitation work that's closed the Clark Avenue overpass until early- or mid-December.

The city and county governments have been an active partner in the project, since it first was looked at in long-range feasibility studies several years ago.

MoDOT Central District Engineer Dave Silvester said the extra lights and decorative walls were "something that the city and county and chamber approached us with. We said, 'We're happy to do it it's not an expense that MoDOT can cover.'"

The local ideas were added into the project after the local officials agreed to pay.

While the Jefferson City Area Chamber of Commerce also has been actively backing the interchange for years, President Randy Allen said the chamber wasn't part of the funding for the extras.

Still, he told the News Tribune, the city's and county's costs are money well-spent.

The new interchange is "an attractant," he said. "There are multiple gateways to Jefferson City, but most of the traffic that goes through here, east and west, goes on Highway 50.

"And this (Lafayette Street Interchange) is the place where we get off (the highway) to a lot of things that we have," including the downtown area to the west, the Missouri State Penitentiary Redevelopment site and the federal courthouse to the north, and the Lincoln University and Jefferson City High School complexes to the south.

"So," Allen added, "this really is a gateway to the center core of the community."