The Linn Board of Aldermen passed an ordinance Monday allowing the city to enter into an agreement with the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission to widen the portion of U.S. 50 running from 4th Street to 12th Street.
As part of the agreement, 6 feet will be added to the width of an around 4,500-foot stretch of U.S. 50, making it 26 feet wide with 12-foot lanes. The project is projected to cost $350,864, with Linn paying $114,000 and the Missouri Department of Transportation, under the supervision of MHTC, paying $236,864.
Mayor Dwight Massey said construction is expected to start in the spring.
"(MHTC) is taking care of all the design, and that would be a chunk of engineering money that we would be paying out if we were doing it by ourselves," Massey said.
The deal also revises the maintenance agreement between Linn and the MHTC affecting U.S. 50. The original agreement, which makes the state responsible for maintaining the highway, was written in 1959, Massey said.
"It is truly a partnership on this repair," Massey added. "This is unique, and I don't know how many small towns throughout Missouri have offered to do this, I don't know how many towns they're willing to work with on this."
Linn already budgeted $100,000 for the project this year, and plans to include the remaining $14,000 in next year's budget. Massey said the city will also ask the area's Special Roads District to cover the $14,000 if the funds are needed before next year.
The project is intended to solve the maintenance issues that have plagued Linn's portion of U.S. 50 for the past few years.
In 2016, a contractor for MoDOT incorrectly added a stripe to each lane at the 12-foot mark - past the highway's current 10 feet of concrete supporting the asphalt. Linn believes the stripes caused more drivers to use the outer edges of U.S. 50, causing the shoulders to deteriorate.
By extending the underlying concrete and actually making the lanes 12 feet wide, Linn hopes the problem will be fixed permanently rather than patched.
"I think long-term, for this region, making Highway 50 a more solid highway - widening it, making it safer - we can't beat it," Massey told the aldermen in July. "We're trying to market this town, we want more people here, more businesses, more residents - as every town does."
The aldermen also voted to accept an audit on the city's finance Monday. The treasurer said the audit raised no major issues. According to the audit, Linn's modified cash net position was $2,757,931, up $241,895 from last year. With modified cash net position, which was the basis of accounting requested by the city and not considered a general accepted method, fixed assets are not capitalized and no depreciation is recorded, the audit said.