Regional Airport interchange construction gets under way

MoDOT chief engineer Dave Nichols, right, and businessman Ed Holt look at a map of the planned new interchange near the Columbia Airport after Monday's ground-breaking ceremony.
MoDOT chief engineer Dave Nichols, right, and businessman Ed Holt look at a map of the planned new interchange near the Columbia Airport after Monday's ground-breaking ceremony.

More than a few Mid-Missouri residents may not remember a time when those large, dirt-pile hills were not a part of the area near the intersection of U.S. 63 and Route H - the Columbia Regional Airport turnoff.

But the state Transportation Department already has started the work that will use those hills to help build a diamond interchange, replacing the sometimes dangerous, grade-level intersection.