3 road projects on tap around US 50 East

Tom Wieberg, left, discusses diagrams Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016 with Missouri Department of Transportation employee Natalie Roark at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Taos. MoDOT held an informational session to provide information on a proposed project to replace the Route J/M interchange bridge on U.S. 50 in Cole County.
Tom Wieberg, left, discusses diagrams Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016 with Missouri Department of Transportation employee Natalie Roark at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Taos. MoDOT held an informational session to provide information on a proposed project to replace the Route J/M interchange bridge on U.S. 50 in Cole County.

The eastern side of Cole County will see three major construction projects taking place next year.

MoDOT officials held a public meeting Thursday evening in Taos on one of those projects.

The meeting provided information on replacing the Route J/M interchange bridge over U.S. 50 in Cole County.

"The full closure will take place next summer," Bruce Green, Central District project manager, said. "We'll try to expedite the work with a stiff time frame to get the work done. There will be penalties if the contractor goes past the deadline."

Green said drivers will be able to use the Lisletown crossover and the Militia Drive overpass as alternative ways to make turns while the work takes place.

"We're still in the design phase," he said. "The closure will last 60-90 days in order to get the job done. We won't be going to bid until March, and work will probably start in May. The closing will not occur until after Memorial Day."

Green said the cost for the project is $1.2 million.

"The deck needed to be replaced, and there is cracking on the abutments," he said. "We looked at a full rehabilitation. The overpass was built in 1975 and still had some good sections but not enough to save. It's a steel bridge, and it will have to be repainted. The paint was bad. It's lead-based, and that's a more expensive process to complete. That's what they had to do at the Missouri River bridge."

Replacing, rather than rehabilitating, will be cheaper, quicker and should last about twice as long, about 75 years, he said.

Some residents who attended Thursday's meeting were in agreement the bridge needed to be replaced.

"From what I've seen, the need is there," said Gerald Scheperle who is pastor of the local Lutheran church. "I was looking to see how this would affect our church members, getting to and from church, and I think they (MoDOT) have tried to address any concerns as best as they can."

"I knew something had to be done," said Tom Wieberg, Taos parks director. "I also like what they are going to be doing at Liberty Lane with deceleration lanes."

MoDOT plans to improve the at-grade intersection on U.S. 50/63, near the Missouri Highway Patrol's Troop F headquarters, by installing lanes that allow drivers to pull out of the through traffic so they can slow down and exit the road.

The $430,000 project will reconstruct/realign the location where South Shamrock Road intersects with 50/63 and Shamrock's connection to Liberty Lane.

It also will:

Construct acceleration lanes at North Shamrock Road and at the new Liberty Lane intersection.

Build a right-turn lane at the new Liberty Lane intersection.

The third project that will be done in the area is the repaving of 50/63 from the Moreau River to the Osage River.

"From April through October, there will be a lot of action taking place in this corridor," Green said. "We apologize for the inconvenience. But the funding is there, and we need to get this work done."