Highway intersection in Columbia could get improvements
One of Columbia’s most dangerous intersections could get some new safety features.
The Columbia City Council will host a public hearing at its November 7 meeting on improvements to the Route B and Waco Road. Those include “mast arm signals, raised islands, pedestrian crosswalk, and restricted turning movements for the driveways located closest to the intersection.” The $221,000 project would be paid through a capital improvement sales tax voters renewed last August. If approved, construction would start as early as spring 2017.
ABC 17 News highlighted the area in a special report this May. Route B, which becomes Paris Road in Columbia and stretches to Hallsville, saw six fatality crashes the last three years. Data from the Missouri State Highway Patrol in that report shows three of them with a listed cross street of Waco Road. Only Interstate 70 had six fatality crashes in that time span, and carries four times the number of cars in a day. Crash data the city provided show at least one “disabling injury” at the intersection since 2012, with two “right angle” and two “head on” crashes.
Right now, The two-lane Waco Rd. features stop signs on either side of the four-lane Route B. The “islands” that control turning traffic are merely drawings on the concrete. A traffic count in September 2015 put a grand total of 14,820 cars passing through the intersection. Two of Columbia’s largest employers – 3M and Kraft Foods – operate on the east side of Route B, and utilize large semi-trucks both entering and exiting their plants. Columbia Public Works said both 3M and Environmental Dynamics International, located on the other side of Route B, would be willing “to modify driveway access locations” when they install the new lights.
Kraft Foods wrote a letter in May 2015 asking for some relief at the intersection, as well. The plant received Chapter 100 tax incentives last year to expand its Columbia plant, and several large trucks park along Waco Rd. just outside. Director of Supply Chain Management Michael Morgan wrote the company hoped for traffic signals and smoothing of the grade on Waco Rd. to help. Columbia Public Works wrote it expected 30 to 32 trucks coming in and out of the plant every day.
