After the Cole County presiding commissioner expressed concerns about road improvements at U.S. 54 and Stadium Boulevard in Jefferson City, the County Commission asked for a meeting with the traffic engineers who designed the project.
Presiding Commissioner Marc Ellinger on Wednesday said he was concerned that the roundabout would be near a stoplight and that could lead to a backup and not alleviate congestion in the area.
The improvements are proposed in anticipation of the Capital Region Medical Center expansion with hopes of relieving congestion issues in the area during the morning commute.
George Butler and Associates of Kansas City has been working on the improvements at Monroe Street to access Capital Region.
David Bange, Jefferson City engineer, said the plan would make Monroe a two-way street from Woodlawn Avenue to Stadium.
A traffic signal is planned at Monroe and Stadium, and widening Stadium to make it five lanes for left-turn pockets.
On the other side of U.S. 54 at the Jefferson and Stadium intersection, a dual-lane roundabout would be put in with a right-hand slip lane coming off the U.S. 54 exit ramp through Stadium to Christy Drive. There would also be widening of Stadium back to the Trinity Lutheran Church driveway.
Ellinger said this is the last major joint project between the county and city to be done with current capital improvement sales tax money.
Bange earlier said they were initially looking at the city and county each putting in $1.2 million, and getting $778,000 from state road funds.
However, Bange now said the project may be beyond their initial estimates.
The total is now at about $4 million.
Bange said they could use some of the savings they'll be getting from the improvements being done on Frog Hollow Road on the U.S. 54/Stadium improvements, but unless the federal highway bill gets renewed they may not be able to do all the U.S. 54/Stadium improvements right now.
If funding is worked out, Bange said the Monroe Street part of the project could happen by the end of next summer. The Jefferson/Stadium roundabout could come in the summer 2016, he said, depending on the progress of the Lafayette Street interchange project on U.S. 50, which may require some coordination of work.