JOPLIN, Mo. —
Work toward the construction of a long-planned interchange that is intended to eliminate one of the most dangerous train crossings in the state is under way.
The project also is designed to streamline traffic flow on North Main Street Road and Zora Street, as well as bridging Zora to the city’s west side.
The project has been on the boards since before 2004, when Joplin voters approved the three-eighths-cent capital projects sales tax for street projects. The city has sought the project, in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Transportation, as the first step in the eventual construction of a West Bypass, which is intended to connect with Highway 249 on the east.
“We didn’t have a real good east-west corridor in the north part of town, and that’s going to be the big connector now so that you can bypass some of the smaller streets,” said Dave Hunt, transportation engineer for the city of Joplin.
Work is expected to take more than a year and will involve lane closures at times on Main Street. Zora Street will be closed at Missouri Avenue, east of Main Street, in the middle of March and will stay closed through the completion of the project, expected to be in May 2013, Hunt said.
There will be several phases to the work.
Utility crews have been working for several weeks to relocate lines in the area. This week, a construction crew has been clearing trees and brush on the west side of Main Street.
Actual construction will involve building a bridge on Zora Street to cross Main Street and the Kansas City Southern railroad tracks west of Main Street. The bridge will connect the west side of Zora to the east side. A three-lane road will be built west of Main Street to connect Zora to Lone Elm Road.
Exit ramps are to be installed for Main Street motorists to access Zora.
Construction of the interchange will replace two traffic signals, the existing one at Zora and one at Veterans Way. Closure of Veterans Way also will eliminate a train crossing there that Hunt said was classified as one of the 10 most dangerous crossings in Missouri.
Detours will be posted at Fountain Road, St. Louis Avenue and Langston Hughes-Broadway as the work proceeds and Zora Street is closed.
Those who live on Zora between Main Street and Missouri Avenue will have access to driveways but will not be able to get onto Main Street.
Mark Rains, chairman of the Airport Drive Village board, said he believes the interchange will be beneficial to the village and its motorists as well as Joplin.
“This is something that’s been needed for a while,” Rains said.
$10 million
THE ENTIRE PROJECT will cost $10 million. More than half, $5.8 million, is federal funding. The city will pay $3.2 million from sales tax proceeds. The state’s share is $1 million. Some of the money already has been spent on such costs as engineering and land acquisition.
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