Sturgeon mayor says MoDOT plan could put students at risk
STURGEON, Mo. (KMIZ)
Sturgeon Mayor Seth Truesdell is speaking out against the Missouri Department of Transportation's plan reroute traffic from a dangerous crossroads, stating the plan could put residents, especially students at risk.
In a post on social media, Truesdell criticized the agency for moving forward with a project he said would reroute heavy traffic near Sturgeon High School while ignoring safer alternatives by the city.
On Thursday, city leaders received an update from MoDOT outlining planned improvements along Highway 63 in northern Boone County, Truesell says. The agency said it considered public feedback and will add lighting at the Highway 22 interchange to improve visibility. The project includes removing the crossover at Route CC and Highway 63 and adding acceleration and deceleration lanes at nearby intersections to improve traffic flow.
However, due to environmental concerns, the extension of Old Highway 63 will not be part of this project and is now scheduled for a future phase in 2028.
MoDOT said the intersections at Route CC/Roy Barnes Road and Crofton Hall Road has seen 14 crashes in the past five years, including one death and four serious injuries, prompting the need for changes.
Truesdell argues the plan could create new safety concerns by shifting highway traffic onto local roads, including Fairgrounds Road near the high school. He also said the state failed to consider a city-supported alternative and is delaying key infrastructure improvements, leaving the community at risk in the meantime.
"The City of Sturgeon finds your recent project update not only disappointing but entirely unacceptable," Truesdell said in an email replying to MoDOT. "Despite our extensive formal correspondence detailing the specific life-safety risks associated with your proposal, it is clear that MoDOT has chosen to bypass meaningful negotiation in favor of a unilateral 'move forward' approach that ignores the very community it serves."
City officials say they previously presented evidence that removing the Route CC crossover could be dangerous, but claim those concerns were not addressed in MoDOT’s latest update.
The city points to three main issues: increased traffic near Sturgeon High School, the potential for congestion and crashes on Highway 22 due to limited turn lanes, and the delay of the Old Highway 63 extension until 2028.
"We demand that MoDOT halt the removal of the Route CC crossover until a design is adopted that does not shift the financial and safety burden onto our city streets and law enforcement," Truesdell said. "We expect a formal response that addresses our specific proposal for a Clark-style intersection rather than another generalized update."
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