New roundabout proposed for Jefferson City intersection

Jefferson City may soon get a new major roundabout near Highway 54.

A bill was proposed to the city council Monday night to put in a roundabout at the intersection of Stadium Boulevard and Jefferson Street.

The roundabout is aimed to ease congestion at the intersection. According to Jefferson City Public Works, traffic is known to back up to Highway 54 around a tight curve and slow or even stop traffic on the highway. And school traffic from nearby Helias, Trinity Luthern, Jefferson City High School and Lincoln University adds to the problem.

“For a long time, this intersection has backed traffic up onto the highway,” Jefferson City Public Works Director Matt Morasch said. “It is a dangerous situation to have stopped traffic on Highway 54 especially in a curve, kind of a blind curve there.”

The proposed roundabout is the final phase of a safety improvement project of the Highway 54 and Stadium Boulevard Interchange.

If approved, the project will cost about $2.1 million. Approximately 75 percent of the project will be funded through MoDOT. The remaining costs will be split between the city and Cole County.

It would be the largest roundabout in Jefferson City.

“This has multiple lanes in it and quite a large circumference actually, and there’s also some bypass lanes associated with this roundabout as well,” Morasch said.

Construction on the roundabout is expected to begin later this summer if approved. But there will not be any permanent closures until 2017.

“It shouldn’t impede traffic to any great degree through the winter time and then next summer after school, the end of school next summer in 2017, we’ll allow the road to be shut down and then rebuilt,” Morasch said.

Public works hopes to have the project completed around August 2017.

Cole County commissioners are set to review the contract with Lehman Construction Company at their meeting next Tuesday.

The city council will vote on final approval at its next council meeting.