Construction project involving Hwy.6 about four miles east of Gallatin is back on track
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The Highway and Bridge Construction project involving Hwy.6 about four miles east of Gallatin is back on track, according to Daviess County Commissioner David Tolen.
MoDOT’s original Five Year Plan called for straightening out a portion of Hwy. 6 by moving it about 60 foot south of the original highway. The new section of highway would start a little east of Route 13 and end a little east of Route K. The hills would be leveled and the shoulders widened for the 2/12 mile stretch.
MoDOT recently considered cutting in half the funding for the $7 million project and implementing a design that called for only the bridges being improved and a one-inch overlay applied.
“The patch job wasn’t acceptable,” said Commissioner Tolen.
The commissioners expressed their dissatisfaction with the plan, met frequently with MoDOT officials in an effort to persuade them, and sought the aid of area legislators to apply what political pressure they could.
“We expressed our opinion and we were persistent,” said Mr. Tolen. “Don Wichern is a good, local engineer to work with. He seems concerned with the outlying roads and not just city projects. But his hands were tied and we had to go to Jefferson City.”
On Monday, June 12, in Jefferson City, Daviess County Commissioners Danny Heldenbrand, David Holcomb and Mr. Tolen met with Kevin Keith of MoDOT, Sen. David Klindt, Rep. Brad Lager from Maryville and Randy Railsback of the Green Hills Regional Planning Commission. They came up with a compromise that reinstated the original improvement plan and left only the width of the shoulders as an issue for discussion.
“Both plans involve cutting down the hills and moving the road south,” said Mr. Tolen. “That’s my understanding, and we got that directly from Kevin Keith, the chief engineer of the state. The debate now is on how wide the shoulders should be.”
The two bridges will be replaced by either a 4 foot shoulder or an 8 foot shoulder.
The first plan, the one the commissioners would like to see done, calls for building a 40′ road two 8′ shoulders and two 12′ driving lanes.
The second plan calls for a 32 foot roadway two 4 foot shoulders and two 12 foot lanes.
Those plans will be at issue at the public meeting scheduled for Thursday, July 6.
The commissioners know there would be an additional expense with wider shoulders, but still prefer the first plan in light of safety issues, and because it makes the width of the bridges and shoulders consistent.
“There’s no narrowing and then widening back out,” said Commissioner Tolen. He explains that District Two is resurfacing Hwy. 6 to Trenton this summer so it will be all 8 foot shoulders. Hwy. 6 to the west is 8 foot rock shoulder, which is supposed to be resurfaced next year. “There’s no sense narrowing the shoulders for that 2 ½ mile stretch.”
Mr. Tolen said he thought MoDOT would push hard for the 32 foot roadway based on traffic counts. MoDOT reasons that since the hills will be leveled out, drivers will have a line of sight which would make the four foot shoulders adequate.
The public will be allowed to express their opinion at the public meeting.
“The commissioners would like to stress how important it is that people come and express their opinion on which plan they like best,” he said. “MoDOT will follow what the public says it wants. If people overwhelmingly agree on the 8′ shoulders and express that strongly at the meeting, MoDOT will get the message.”
MoDOT officials considered altering the Hwy. 6 project after reviewing it under a process called practical design.
“They need to cut costs and we appreciate that fact, but we hate to cut costs on the side of safety,” said Mr. Tolen. “We wanted to impress upon them that those hills are dangerous. There have been many accidents there.”
Practical design did work for MoDOT in this instance.
“They realized they could take out the east bridge and put in a box culvert and that saved them good money,” Mr. Tolen said. “The saving allowed them to go ahead with the project.”
The wheels have ground slowly on Hwy. 6.
“I went back to the Nov. 2001 public hearing which said the project would be done by 2004. Here we are still talking about it in 2006. And it probably won’t be constructed until 2007. It’s time to get Hwy. 6 fixed and fixed right. I think MoDOT understands that.”