Highway finally ready

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October 5, 2008

Anonymous The Joplin Globe Sun Oct 05, 2008, 07:01 PM CDT

By Wally Kennedy

wkennedy@joplinglobe.com

CARTERVILLE, Mo. — Carterville Mayor Dale Davenport’s patience is about to pay off. The high-speed interchange for Missouri Highway 249, the Range Line bypass, is to open today, marking the completion of the $78 million project that began in 1993.

“Oh, yeah, we’re ready for it,” Davenport said. “I think it’s going to open up all kinds of opportunities for business and manufacturing that we desperately need. We need the sales-tax revenue and the jobs.

“The people here will have to adjust. We’re a small town, and that’s what’s neat about our town, but change is coming.”

Davenport said it’s only a matter of time before Carterville will flourish.

“Now, it’s Carterville’s time,” he said. “The value of the property around the highway will go up, and we again will be a thriving community like it used to be. We want our town to grow and prosper. We used to be on top of a lead mine. Now, it’s a gold mine.”

Davenport and other mayors along the Highway 249 corridor know that someday Highway 249 will become Interstate 49, a four-lane, divided highway stretching from Baton Rouge, La., to Kansas City.

When Webb City Mayor John Biggs was asked how far away the town is from extending water and sewer services to Highway 249, he said: “It’s $2 million away. We want to extend water and sewer along the 17th Street corridor. We’re working on that.”

Biggs echoed Davenport’s belief that the economic potential for development is vast.

“That area will be great for manufacturing,” he said. “You can ship product from there to anywhere in the United States. It’s near the center of the country and two major arteries, Highway 71 and Interstate 44. There’s lots of land and lots of people to work. We have a low cost of living, and low cost of water and sewer. We’re in great shape to bring somebody in here who is involved in manufacturing or distribution.”

Webb City will seek the construction of an interchange for East 17th Street.

The bypass, Biggs said, will make it much easier and convenient for Webb City residents to get “to all points south, including Newman Road, the college, and to 32nd Street and all the good restaurants.”

Like Davenport, he said, “They built this high-speed interchange for one reason: to handle the traffic on what will be Interstate 49.”

Bob Nichols, a resident of Webb City, said a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency paid for the creation of a development plan for the Highway 249 corridor. Noting the presence of lead and zinc mining sites along the 6.2-mile corridor, the plan suggests that the land be developed for industrial and commercial purposes. Residential construction, Nichols said, would be on the fringe of the corridor and away from the mining sites.

“But, we have no ability to implement the plan without zoning,” he said. “There is really no control in the area.”

Jasper County is the main player. Joplin, Duenweg, Webb City and Carterville can influence some of the development through their zoning regulations. A study completed in 2005 suggested that the area is sparsely populated, with only 1,360 residents, according to the 2000 census.

Development of the area will require a substantial investment in infrastructure for roads, utilities and water and sewer lines. The study estimated that construction eventually could cost $42 million. The study projected that an initial expenditure of $15 million would get things started near the main interchanges at Zora Street, Newman Road and East Seventh Street.

Duenweg was the first community to benefit from the first phase of Highway 249 construction more than a decade ago, said Duenweg Mayor Russell Olds.

“We have put two miles of water mains and sewer up and down it,” he said. “For a city our size, we are getting steady commercial and residential development. We are growing our infrastructure.”

So far, the city has spent $3 million on infrastructure installation.

“We have land available for continuous development,” Olds said. “We had to brace ourselves for the changes or get run over. My plan is we never stop. We need one more high-speed at Carthage, and Interstate 49 in this area will be done.”

Noting Duenweg’s position with regard to Interstate 44 and what will become Interstate 49, he said, “We are the crossroads of the crossroads.”

West bypass next?

CH2M Hill, a Kansas City engineering firm, was hired by the city of Joplin as a consultant to determine the potential future traffic demands for a west bypass that would link the west side of Joplin, near the Kansas border, to Highway 249, according to David Hertzberg, public works director for the city.

The next phase of the project would be to select the route for the bypass, which possibly could be built along what now is Route J/Central City Road. The current study is funded by federal tax dollars.

As part of the west bypass, an interchange would be built over North Main Street at Zora Street.

The city, working with the Missouri Department of Transportation, is completing preliminary plans for that project, which would include first-phase design of the interchange and buying property for it.

The interchange likely would span a Kansas City Southern railroad bridge and the creek that runs alongside North Main Street near the current Zora Street intersection.