The Missouri Department of Transportation will start work on July 15 to widen Highway 160 from I-44 to Jackson St. in Willard to four lanes.
The $18.6 million project will include adding two lanes to the existing two-lane highway, safety improvements at several intersections between I-44 and Jackson Street and installing a pedestrian underpass at Hunt Rd. for the Frisco Highline Trail. Three intersections will be converted to roundabouts: Farm Rd. 94, Jackson St. and Hunt Rd. and one to a J-Turn: Farm Rd. 123. Two will get signal upgrades.
Project manager, Don Saiko, with MODOT, said most of the traffic impacts will be next year, but drivers will see some slowdowns this year.
"When they blast rock in the new lanes that they're going to be building, they have to shut down--they have to stop traffic while they do the blasting, but that'll be about the only impact this year," he said.
Highway 160 will be open to traffic for the duration of construction, but some county roads off of 160 will be inaccessible to times. The Frisco Highline Trail will be closed next year for up to 60 days.
The Highway 160 safety improvements are listed as a priority project of regional significance by the Ozarks Transportation Organization.
Saiko said most of the rights of way for the project were purchased in the 1970s.
The project is expected to be finished by December 2020.
Learn more about the project here.
