A project to install J-turns at two dangerous intersections on Hwy. M in Barnhart is moving forward, said Tom Blair, a Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) St. Louis district engineer.
Blair on Sept. 1 said MoDOT will begin accepting bids to construct the improvements in October, and it will likely award the contract in December or January. He said construction is expected to start in spring 2023.
He said the project is expected to cost about $1.6 million and take about a year to complete. The original estimated cost for the project was $1 million.
“The estimate rose because of inflation and the cost of materials,” Blair said.
Blair said the project would move forward the day after more than 60 people attended an open house Aug. 31 held by MoDOT that gave them a chance to review and ask questions about the improvements to the intersections of Hwy. M at St. Luke’s Church Road and Moss Hollow Road in Barnhart.
“We had a very good turnout,” Blair said of the meeting held at the Antonia Fire Protection District headquarters in Barnhart. “One thing I heard a lot was everybody felt safety improvements were needed. The purpose of the project is to improve safety for the traveling public on (Hwy.) M on the four-lane divided highway, specifically at St. Luke’s Church Road and Moss Hollow Road. Most people agreed, improvements for safety at those two intersections are needed.
“It is always good for us at MoDOT to get that feedback.”
The upgrades include building J-turns and offset left turns, adding lights at the J-turns and intersections, as well as adding signs and striping, MoDOT said.
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.
MoDOT initially announced the additions of J-turns at the intersections in January 2021 and had expected to complete the projects that summer.
However, the plan was paused in February 2021 because residents had submitted a petition bearing about 1,200 signatures seeking to put traffic lights at the two intersections instead, Stephen O’Connor, area engineer for MoDOT, has said.
Blair said MoDOT has studied the intersections for about three years and a road safety audit was performed to determine the best solution to reduce accidents at the intersections.
“A lot of people say traffic signals are the solution to reduce the crashes,” he said. “Unfortunately, at these locations, St. Luke’s Church Road and Moss Hollow Road, traffic signals are not the solution. Traffic signals will not reduce the crashes that need to be reduced. Traffic signals will keep the same conflict points, and the same crashes are likely to occur. We had to come up with other solutions.”
Blair said MoDOT expects the J-turns to reduce the number of times vehicles may be involved in accidents at the intersections by about 50 percent.
“You won’t get T-boned,” he said. “We have done this at other locations and it has resulted in significant reduction if not total elimination of crashes, especially severe crashes.”
Blair said even after the public meeting, not everyone is onboard with the plan, but he said he hopes there are a few converts.
“There are a lot of people who believe traffic signals will solve these problems,” he said. “MoDOT has looked at it in so many different ways. It is not a belief. MoDOT has determined that traffic signals will not improve the safety or reduce the crashes.
“We had a lot of great conversations,” he said. “I think a lot of people opened up to the safety improvements as they studied them on the boards.”
Blair also said he believed having local leaders like Jefferson County Executive Dennis Gannon, Councilman Charles Groeteke (District 4, Barnhart) and Public Works Director Jason Jonas at the open house helped.
“They all spoke with individuals, and that carries a lot of weight for us to have local leaders speak up and engage,” he said.