The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission on Wednesday approved almost $48 million in funding for 19 projects - including one in Jefferson City - through a cost-share program established last year.
The Governor's Transportation Cost-Share Program - a joint venture between the Missouri Departments of Transportation and Economic Development - had $50 million in general revenue funds appropriated to it in last year's legislative session.
The program provides financial assistance to public and private applicants for public road and bridge projects, and matches up to 50 percent of the construction contract costs for selected projects, according to an earlier news release from Gov. Mike Parson's office.
Parson announced in December that 20 recipients had been selected, and the commission approved 19 of them Wednesday, for $47.9 million in cost-share funding to deliver $125.2 million in total project costs.
Jefferson City will receive $1.91 million to help fund the construction of three roundabouts in the Clark Avenue corridor.
One recipient of the 20 selected, the City Cape Girardeau, opted not to accept their funding award, MoDOT's Communications Director Sally Oxenhandler said.
"The costs associated with the other applications were higher than the $2 million available. For this reason, it was decided to proceed with allotting $48 million to 19 projects," Oxenhandler added.
MoDOT's Cost-Share Committee and representatives from DED reviewed 48 applications, that Ed Hassinger, MoDOT's deputy director and chief engineer, said requested $92 million to deliver $321 million in total project costs.
"That tells you there's a huge demand out there," Hassinger said.
He said the next steps for the approved projects would be to get project agreements in place and help the various entities deliver the projects.
Other recipients include Columbia, Hannibal, Kirksville, Lee's Summit, Poplar Bluff, Springfield and St. Charles, for projects such as improvements to Route A for the GM Wentzville Assembly Plant, adding lanes, expanding access to a medical center and technology park, and improving city streets.
A $1.23 million award to St. Charles County will assist in adding an additional lane to Interstate 70 in O'Fallon.
An approximately $3 million award to Columbia will assist in connecting the Discovery Parkway and U.S. 63 interchange with the Rolling Hills Road and New Haven intersection.
The most expensive single award is approximately $8.29 million in assistance to Pettis County for a new U.S. 65 interchange north of Sedalia for "Industrial Park."
Also on Wednesday, the commission was informed MoDOT is updating its 15-year-old Tracker tool that publicly provides metrics of MoDOT's performance in aspects of the broader categories of safety, service and stability.
The updated Tracker will be fully electronic and interactive, instead of being presented in a PDF file that's not user-friendly on mobile devices. The new version is expected to be available in February.
Tracker is available at www.modot.org/tracker.