A couple dozen people filled a meeting room at the Library Center in Springfield Wednesday for a presentation from MoDOT on unfunded needs in Southwest Missouri.
MoDOT District Planning Manager Frank Miller discussed over $5 billion dollars in unfunded road, bridge and multimodal projects in the region that MoDOT is tracking and prioritizing for future funding. But just one $1.5 million dollar project had drawn the crowd.
It is a proposed but unfunded study for a project some call the “James River North Loop.”
Described in MoDOT documents as a “Corridor location and environmental study for new north corridor in the Springfield Metropolitan Area,” the potential study would look at building a northwest loop through Greene County connecting James River freeway with Highway 65.
In a frank but respectful question and answer session that followed the presentation, residents of Willard and other northwest Greene County communities expressed concerns to MoDOT and Ozarks Transportation Organization staff about eminent domain and property values, the influence of corporate interests as weighed against residents and a process that they felt left them without a voice. Collectively the group said they felt once the study was funded it would be impossible to stop or influence the project. Their goal was to make sure this unfunded project never goes through.
The News-Leader reported on residents’ concerns and a Greene County Commission meeting held last week. They, and Greene County Commissioner Bob Dixon as cited in their reporting, traced much of the concern to an unofficial map that was part of a citizen journalist’s story circulating on social media in early August.
During Wednesday’s meeting MoDOT’s Miller explained the process, how priorities move up the chain to MoDOT and how citizens can make their comments known now. He emphasized just proposing a study is the first step in a very long process.
Miller said if the hypothetical study were approved, it would largely be concerned with environmental and socio-economic impact and feasibility, it would include public meetings and would take 18 to 24 months to complete. During the meeting he and other staff attempted to provide context. They cited studies from the past that had not resulted in any projects, and projects that had been taken up and completed decades after their initial study.
More information can be found online at modot.org/unfundedneeds
Follow this link directly to MoDOT's unfunded needs document.