By Michelle Lewis, For the Hauxeda
Highway 13, which passes through the west side of Springfield, has seen several improvements and changes over the past few years. Alongside planned projects for the state highway, the Missouri Department of Transportation has begun the process of scoping out long term changes for the roadway over the next 10 years.
Before any asphalt is poured of earth is turned, all construction projects conducted by MoDOT go through this scoping and planning process to ensure the best solution is found for a the driving population's specific needs.
About once a year, MoDOT works with the Ozarks Transportation Organization to make a list of the transportation needs in the Springfield metro area. By looking at input from the public, input from elected and appointed officials and studies conducted in the past year, the OTO and MoDOT work together to prioritize transportation projects.
The priority items are then placed into that year’s “Scoping and Design Projects” document.
When it comes to highways, what is scoping?
“Scoping figures out what a project is going to look at,” says Frank Miller, the southwest district planning manager for MoDOT. “Then, we come up with a project or multiple projects that could address those concerns.”
Currently, crews from MoDOT are working on construction within Springfield at various points along Highway 13 (Kansas Expressway) to improve safety for pedestrians. Miller says these improvements were the results of several studies conducted on the Highway 13 corridor.
Similarly, MoDOT has scheduled construction at the intersection of Interstate 44 and Highway 13 for 2027. Through four phases, this project will improve traffic flow throughout the I-44 corridor in Springfield.
The early phases of this project began in 2021 with an OTO study. According to the study’s conceptual report, the goal of the study was to improve the capacity and safety of Highway 13.
The results of this study show needed improvements on Highway 13 in connection with I-44 and in other areas.
“There was some things that came up in the crash data that said we might want to take a look at the area north of the interchange,” Miller said.
Greene County improvements part of this round
In 2018, MoDOT worked on a project that improved intersections on Highway 13 between Clinton and Springfield. These improvements, however, did not include the intersection of Farm Road 94 and Highway 13 north of Springfield.
Due to the lack of projects reflecting a solution to the problems on Highway 13 immediately north of Springfield, safety improvements between Richland Road and Radio Lane have been placed onto MoDOT’s official scoping and design list.
“We want to look at reducing crashes there but there could be various ways to do that,” Miller said. “Putting a project in our scoping list allows us to be able to fund engineering work towards problem solving.”
Other projects on the 2024 scoping and design document for Highway 13 include scoping for roadway improvements between Radio Lane and I-44 alongside scoping for more safety improvements between Evergreen Street and Bennett Street in Springfield.
Miller says MoDOT is constantly looking into the future to continue making positive traffic and road improvements. To provide public comments about areas of concern along Highway 13 or other roadways visit the Ozarks Transportation Organization's website or the MoDOT Southwest District website.
This story is made possible by the Hauxeda’s partnership with students studying public affairs reporting in the Department of Communication, Media, Journalism and Film in the Missouri State University School of Communication. Student reporters work under the direction of Missouri State University senior instructor Jack Dimond.
