Hallsville man calls for changes to Route B to ensure driver safety
BOONE COUNTY, Mo. (KMIZ)
A Hallsville man is calling on state agencies to make changes along Route B to lower the number of crashes and create a safe road for drivers.
In an email to ABC 17 News, Tom Payne expressed his concern for the state road that takes drivers to and from Columbia to Hallsville.
"Columbia as well as Hallsville has experienced significant growth in the past 20 years," Payne wrote. "The Missourians traveling this outdated, dangerous route B deserve better."
In 2004, Hallsville had a population of 997 and Columbia had 92,132 residents. As of 2023, those numbers have grown to 1,732 residents in Hallsville and 129,330 residents in Columbia, according to the Census Bureau.
A 2023 audit by the City of Columbia shows about 12,500 vehicles drive along Route B daily. This year Route B, starting from Waco Road to the beginning of Highway 124, has seen 11 injury crashes with 18 people hurt from those accidents, according to the Missouri State Highway Patrol.
"We need the Hallsville mayor's help, we need the community to reach out and say that this is an important corridor that needs improvement," Payne said in an interview with ABC 17 News. "So it's not going to be just one person. It's going to be a whole bunch of us. Our voices need to be heard."
Payne plans to bring these concerns to the attention of the Mid-Missouri Regional Planning Commission and the Missouri Department of Transportation at the commission's Transportation Advisory Committee meeting at the end of January.
"Proper fix on this part of the road between Columbia and Hallsville would be make it three lane, have a turn lane," Payne said. "I can't expect it to be started tomorrow, but to have it on the five-year [plan], that's really where the threshold is. You've got to get it on the five-year plan. Right now it's not even an unfunded plan."
David Bock, executive director for the Mid-Missouri Regional Planning Commission, said the commission and MoDOT have a collaborative process to address the public's transportation and road safety concerns.
"In theory, it would go from our list onto MoDOT's. They have their unfunded needs list," Bock said.
That list includes the STIP -- MoDOT's Statewide Transportation Improvement Program., a five-year plan that is adjusted yearly as projects begin or are completed.
The only projects scheduled for Route B from 2025 to 2029 are bridge improvements and pavement resurfacing.
Bock said the public attending their meetings is the best way for them to become aware of issues on the road and address them.
"My biggest thing would be to encourage folks to, if they have an interest to attend that meeting in January, or to reach out to our staff through email or through phone calls to kind of voice what they feel that a priority should be for the for the county, for the region," Bock said.
