Columbia eyes state grant for Discovery Parkway extension
The city of Columbia wants a state grant to help pursue a decade-old road project in southeast Columbia.
The city’s Public Works Department asked the Columbia City Council to approve a grant application to extend Discovery Parkway from its current end point near Highway 63 to the intersection of Rolling Hills Road and New Haven Road.
The state recently began offering money through the Governor’s Transportation Cost-Share Program this month for road projects that spur economic development. The Missouri General Assembly approved $50 million for the program run by the state’s Department of Transportation and Department of Economic Development.
Columbia Public Works spokesman Barry Dalton said they chose the Discovery Parkway project because it could attract new businesses to the University of Missouri’s Discovery Ridge research park. Right now, ABC Labs and RADIL have offices there.
The city hopes for the grant to fund half of the estimated $5.8 million project, a two-lane road with grass median, two 16-foot private overpasses and a concrete box cattle crossing for the MU South Farm.
The road would cut through some of South Farm, which houses the school’s agricultural research. Public Works said it would need to get permission from MU to build the road.
City leaders first developed the road extension in 2009. The project would help create a connection between Highway 63 and Interstate 70, starting at the St. Charles Road exit of I-70 and traveling south to Discovery Parkway. The city and county recently completed a traffic study of Grace Lane, another piece of that project.
