The newly opened 54 Expressway has significantly reduced the number of traffic accidents even though more than half the vehicles passing through the Lake of the Ozarks area use Osage Beach Parkway formerly known as U.S. 54, according to the Osage Beach Police Department.
On Feb. 14, Osage Beach Police Senior Officer Kevin Friend filed a traffic flow and crash data report. He reported there were 309 crashes on the current Osage Beach Parkway in 2010, and 250 crashes worked in the city as a whole.
The Osage Beach Expressway opened in the fall of 2010 east of the Grand Glaize Bridge.