Boone County pitches in on Scott Boulevard project

The largest road project in Columbia gets more funding. ABC 17 News reported in August a part of Scott Boulevard is closing south of Vawter School Road. Crews are improving the roadway including a new round-about at Route KK. Boone County leaders voted to help fund the project at Tuesday’s commission meeting.

“It was basically a farm to market type of road. Unimproved, no shoulders, and so, it was over capacity in it’s current condition. This will bring it up to where it needs to be,” said Steve Sapp for Columbia Public Works.

The project includes miles of sidewalks, a new bridge over Mill Creek and better traffic safety and flow, which is especially important because of a new elementary school in the area.

The effort is a collaboration between the city and the county. The county had money set aside for another road project that hasn’t taken off yet. So, the commissioners decided to funnel the money to the Scott Boulevard project.

“This is a good use of that money that we’ve held in reserve. So, we put our money in on the Scott Boulevard project, so that that can get completed and we can have that road in great shape going forward,” said Janet Thompson, Boone County commissioner.

Much of the county money will go to relocation of utilities to make room for the roadway. The project is being paid for with the quarter cent capital improvement sales tax passed by voters in 2005.

The three project phases will cost around $26 million. There is a phase four, but currently, it’s cost prohibitive.

“The fourth phase is the northern end from Broadway north to Route E. A lot of work has been put into that with environmental studies, but with a $68 million price tag, there’s no funding available for that at this point,” said Sapp.

The entire Scott Boulevard project is expected to be completed by August 2016.