Motorists traveling on Hwy. M west of I-55 in Barnhart should find a couple of intersections a little safer in the future.
Officials with the Missouri Department of Transportation have announced plans to reconfigure the highway’s junctions with St. Luke’s Church Road and Moss Hollow Road.
Depending on the schedule set by the contractor when a bid is awarded, work could begin this summer and be completed by summer 2022.
“What we have there is a four-lane, divided highway with two lanes going east and two lanes going west and crossings at grade,” said project manager Shirley Norris. “Someone approaching Hwy. M and wanting to go toward Barnhart (by turning left) now has to dart across two lanes of oncoming traffic, sit in the middle in a small space, sometimes with someone right behind you, and then have to accelerate again when the other direction of traffic clears. It’s not a safe situation.”
Norris said the plans at each intersection are to build J-turns on both sides of the intersection.
Once the intersections are reconfigured, a motorist wishing 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.
“The J-turn would be a safe harbor. It will be designed so you can easily turn the other way, away from oncoming traffic, with an acceleration lane that will give you time to merge into traffic,” Norris said.
She said the turns are designed to allow tractor-trailers to negotiate them easily.
“We know cars, smaller trucks and even school buses will be able to handle these turns because of that,” she said. “The way they’re designed, there is plenty of room.”
To make the intersections even safer, drivers making right turns also will have an acceleration lane so they don’t have to merge into oncoming traffic immediately.
“This is an area where we’ve seen a lot of accidents, so that’s why we’re planning this project,” Norris said.
There’s already a J-turn at Hwy. M and Old Lemay Ferry Road.
In addition, Norris said the Hwy. 30 intersection at Upper Byrnes Mill Road west of House Springs was redesigned similarly five to seven years ago.
“We have been monitoring that area, and we found that immediately after it was installed, accidents at that intersection just disappeared,” Norris said.
Norris said the contract with the winning bidder will include a stipulation that both intersections will remain open while construction is ongoing.
The project at both intersections is estimated to cost about $1 million.