Planned Highway 54 safety improvements to cost millions of dollars

The Missouri Department of Transportation is set to meet with the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, or CAMPO, Thursday to discuss safety improvements along Highway 54.

ABC 17 News reported a recent audit of the highway from Mexico, Mo. to Camdenton found the existing safety features were standard for what was necessary.

But MoDOT said the improvements would be beneficial for CAMPO’s long-range transportation improvement program as well as the highway’s future.

“We feel it’s a good project due to the fact that the traffic on 54 we expect to increase over the years and also it has the seasonal traffic with the Lake of the Ozarks folks going that direction,” Travis Koestner, the assistant district engineer for MoDOT’s Central District, said.

The project will cost an additional $3.5 million on top of already approved bridge rehabilitation projects along the highway, according to Koestner. The entire project will cost about $9.6 million and be funded through MoDOT.

The safety improvements would include some guard rails and cables, additional signage and high friction surface treatment that could help reduce crashes in wet conditions.

Thursday, the CAMPO technical committee is set to make a recommendation to the board of the directors.

If CAMPO puts the improvements on its project list by the first of the year, MoDOT expects to start work sometime in 2017.