So someone commented on here saying that the people of Seymour complained and didn't want an overpass; well that isn't true. I emailed MoDot and got a response. From this response you can see that MoDot just doesn't think our area is important enough to spend money on right now. They are even might put up a 5th stoplight in the area!
Here is MoDot's response, and I repeat it was not people in Seymour complaining that kept us from getting a stoplight.
Mr. Davis,
Thanks for your email asking about possible plans for interchanges along Route 60 at Rogersville and Seymour. I hope to provide information that will be useful to you.
We have developed a concept to make Route 60 a freeway with three interchanges and a series of outer roads between Route 65 in Springfield and Route B/VV at Rogersville. We had a public meeting in the Fall of 2007 in Rogersville to show people what approach we think should be taken. I have attached the informational brochure from that meeting. No money has been identified to design and build the project, with an estimated cost of $75 million to $100 million. Besides, other projects, particularly in Springfield, have been judged by transportation planners we work closely with in the Springfield metro area as having greater need. However, no one disputes the Springfield-to-Rogersville corridor needs improvement.
The situation between Rogersville and Seymour is a bit different. Traffic is lighter, although increasing. The need to make Route 60 a freeway, with limited access at interchanges, is much less. The logical sequence would be to build the Springfield-to-Rogersville freeway and continue looking eastward as population growth and traffic increase in that direction. We know the situation gets more serious with each passing year, but we cannot keep up with the growth and development that is occurring.
When existing Route 60 was planned and built in the late 1960s and early 1970s, MoDOT/Springfield bought property for an interchange in Seymour. However, funds we had available to use over the years had to be spent on other projects where the need was greater. The traffic signal and advance-warning flashers at Route C/K, though not the ideal solutiion, has helped improve safety for much less money than an interchange. We have begun studying whether to add a traffic signal at Clinton Road (where the McDonald's restaurant is located). Again, it's not an ideal fix, but it may be the best we can do.
Interchanges along Route 60 to the east in Wright County were built -- at state highway intersections in Mansfield, Macomb, Norwood and Mountain Grove -- in times in the 1970s when that area was part of the MoDOT/Willow Springs district and money was available to devote to the corridor. Yes, it looks incongruent, but ......
Many people ask why federal economic recovery funds (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act) can't be used for projects like the ones you have brought up. That's a natural reaction. The reality is that MoDOT has charge of $525 million of the huge $787 billion "stimulus" package, and that doesn't go very far in meeting the $31.3 billion in needs we have identified across the state. We had to follow constraints contained in the economic recovery legislation and follow the normal project planning and selection process we use in cooperation with transportation planners across the state under rules described by the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission. The commission oversees MoDOToperations.
To use the federal economic recovery money, the law required the highway and bridge projects to be virtually ready to build. That means the design had to be completed, most or all of the right-of-way in hand, all environmental and other federal and state construction requirements met and plans ready to put out for bid. That also means the projects had to have gone through MoDOT's planning and selection process to have gotten to that point. The term you probably heard was "shovel ready." Needless to say, nothing is shovel ready as far as freeway and interchange construction along Route 60 east of Springfield.
We are aware of the highway needs in the Rogersville, Fordland, Diggins and Seymour areas, but other areas we are responsible for in this fast-growing region have greater needs and we can't meet all of those. And unless something changes, our funding projections beyond 2011 put us in a position where we will be able to undertake very few major improvements to the system statewide.
I have used a broad brush stroke to try to explain what's happening where Route 60 is concerned. If you wish to discuss it, feel free to call me at 417-895-7600 and I can go over this in greater detail. Also, please voice your concerns to the Southwest Missouri Council of Governments, the transportation planning agency for your area (417-836-6900), or Webster County Clerk Stan Whitehurst, who is the county's representative on that council. Those folks need to know what their constituents want in the way of road improvements.
Sincerely,
Andy Mueller
Assistant District Engineer
MoDOT, Springfield