Here's why design enhancements for I-70/U.S. 63 aren't on plans yet

When the Missouri Department of Transportation and design-build firm Millstone Weber presented to the public this past week the plans for the Interstate 70 and U.S. Highway 63 connecter, there were some missing elements: design enhancements approved by the Columbia City Council in June.

While the enhancements were not on the publicly available plans, they still are moving forward said Eric Kopinski, MoDOT Improve I-70 program director. This was mirrored by Columbia Chamber of Commerce director Matt McCormick and City of Columbia spokesperson Sydney Olsen in messages to the Tribune.

"With the enhancement process, we are working closely with the city, county and chamber to ensure any enhancements that are desired from those groups are incorporated. We are working closely with them and have had a number of meetings with the plan sets to try and incorporate any enhancements," Kopinski said.

The design enhancements approved last year to make the connector more welcoming than just plain concrete were estimated to cost upward of $2.6 million, paid for by the City of Columbia, Boone County and the Columbia Chamber of Commerce.

Enhancement designs at the time were based on MoDOT's direct connection flyover ramps and single-point urban interchange model for the connector. The plan from Millstone Weber still uses the direct connection ramps, but opts instead for underpass and roundabout connections to I-70 and U.S. 63 to draw a bulk of the traffic away from the connector. Therefore, modifications to the original design enhancements are needed.

Updated design enhancement renderings are not yet available, McCormick wrote.

"The city, county and chamber are currently working on updating the enhancements to fit with the new plan. The nice part is that we are able to modify the local plan from the themes and intention of the original plan," he wrote.

Construction of the Columbia to Kingdom City Improve I-70 project is expected to start sometime after July 4 and take upward of three years, so there still is time to get immediate need design enhancements to MoDOT and Millstone Weber and then continued work on other design enhancements as construction progresses.

"A lot of the overarching design concepts can still be incorporated, but may need to be reconfigured or a different layout. They are working quickly to adjust to the new design and what best to utilize with their funding," Kopinski said. "From MoDOT's perspective, we are providing a uniform approach for the nearly 200 miles (of I-70 lane additions), and then we are going to cities and counties and saying, 'if you want any enhancements, you kind of let us know what you want and we'll work to incorporate those.'"

Olsen agreed.

"The overall concept, colors, materials, etc. will remain similar," she wrote. "The City has amended their contract with Lochmueller and they are now working on revised plans and cost estimates. Once developed we will be meeting with the community stakeholders and making some more finalized recommendations."

More: These are the interchange enhancements sought for the I-70/U.S. 63 connector

The door also remains open to any community along the I-70 corridor on post-construction enhancements, such as landscaping, Kopinski added. A schedule recently was provided to the city, county and chamber so they can determine which design features are "mission critical" items within the next six months, he said.

All partners are working together to structure that first six months process, McCormick wrote.

"Our goal is to use this generational project to build a welcoming front door to Columbia and Boone County. Our plan is to use this as a launching pad to help design enhancements to I-70 through our community," he wrote.

More: Plans for I-70 widening relatively final. Here's when construction is expected to start

Charles Dunlap covers local government, community stories and other general subjects for the Tribune. You can reach him at cdunlap@columbiatribune.com or @CD_CDT on Twitter. Subscribe to support vital local journalism.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Here's why design enhancements for I-70/U.S. 63 aren't on plans yet