Route H work to change after residents voice concerns
Engineers from Burns and McDonnell met with residents from Englewood on Thursday to address some of their concerns with planned work on Route H.
Burns and McDonnell worked with city and county employees to address concerns Englewood residents brought up at several meetings.
Route H runs through Englewood. Crews have plans to relocate Route H to align with Rangeline Road. The move is so Columbia Regional Airport can expand one of its runways.
Residents of Englewood were concerned the closure from the work would have negative impacts on their community. Some voiced concerns about having buses full of children turning onto Highway 63. Others were worried response times from emergency responders would be much longer than usual.
Engineers with Burns and McDonnell ultimately broke the project down into four phases so the closures would be split up.
Dave Hadel with Burns and McDonnell spoke to the crowd Thursday.
“The closures are essentially the same, it’s the sequencing which is different so that now it’s a more, rather than have them all at one time closed we’re making them more linear,” he said.
Crews also shortened the work from 60 days to 30. Under the new plan residents will have more ways to Englewood. They will be able to use Rangeline and Route Y to make their way into town.
Fire Chief James Bullard from the Southern Boone County Fire Protection District said the new plan would help lower some response times, but the work would still have an impact on their ability to get to the community as fast as they usually would.
Sharon Adams lives in Englewood and organized the series of meetings. She said she was satisfied with the new plans that were presented.
“Everyone has just worked tirelessly, long long hours, all weekend long. It’s just been a team effort by everyone to bring us what I feel is a really great end result,” she said.
“To think on August, 23, I got an email saying the road’s going to be closed and there’s not an alternate route, to where we are right now is a huge step forward.”
She said the project would ultimately provide a safer road, and that people will have to patient during the inconvenience of the work.
She said the farming community in the area still has concerns about how the project will impact their harvest, but for the most part the members of the community were pleased overall.
