Missouri Department of Transportation officials are pumping the brakes on a plan to reconfigure two intersections along Hwy. M in Barnhart.
Stephen O’Connor, area engineer for MoDOT, said the department plans to seek more information before it proceeds with plans to install J-turns at St. Luke’s Church Road and Moss Hollow Road.
O’Connor said comments from the public, as well as learning a bit of the history of the project, led to the temporary work stoppage.
“I’ve been on the job since August 2019, so I wasn’t necessarily aware of the background that four years ago residents submitted a petition to the department seeking traffic lights at those two intersections,” he said.
O’Connor said that petition had about 1,200 signatures.
“I know quite a few people signed it,” he said.
O’Connor said he doubts, however, that traffic signals are in the future for the two intersections.
“We don’t believe that’s the answer there,” he said. “This is a road where people are going at least 60 mph (the posted speed limit) and we believe they (stop lights) may make the safety situation worse. We’re not comfortable with the traffic signals.”
O’Connor said the department will call in outside experts to suggest alternate solutions to the J-turns that were proposed.
In a J-turn, a motorist who wants to make a left turn onto Hwy. M would first turn right, then enter a dedicated left-turn lane about a half-mile past the intersection to make the turn the opposite way, but with an acceleration lane to allow for a safe merge into traffic.
Work had been expected to begin this summer on the estimated $1 million project and possibly would have been finished in about a year.
O’Connor said that timetable is now obsolete. “It definitely won’t be done this year,” he said. “We’ll take a step back, look at it, address what we have and determine what the best option going forward will be.”