A Montgomery County road project was highlighted during the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission meeting Oct. 12 in Warrenton.

“I’m happy to report that the project was completed ahead of schedule, nearly two months ahead of schedule,” MoDOT Northeast District Engineer Paula Gough said during the meeting. “This project was necessary because of the structural condition of the existing roadway.”

She showed a short video of the new roundabout and overpass as part of her presentation.

“It shows people getting used to the roundabouts, but it does move traffic much more effectively,” she said.

The project cost more than $14 million to complete, and Gough said work to remove the existing interchange should be completed later this month.
“It’s done much quicker than anyone anticipated it would be done,” Brent Speight, chairman of the Greater Montgomery County Economic Development Council, told the commissioners.

Commissioners also approved the Greater Montgomery County Port Authority’s request to become a political subdivision.

The application states that the port authority will be a key instrument in the development of the Montgomery County Mega-Site, a planned 2,800-acre large-scale heavy manufacturing industrial park located near Interstate 70 that will have the capacity to attract large-scale manufacturing and significant private investments to the region.

“That’s going to be very, very important in implementing the development of the Mega-Site, which I don’t think could happen without the port authority,” Speight said.

Speight also addressed commissioners on the importance of the overall Improve I-70 program.

"I’m on it all the time, personally and in a business situation, and it needs to happen,” he said. “And not just in a speedy fashion, but to get it in the right way.”

A short update on the Interstate 70 project was given near the end of the meeting by Jeff Gander, central project director. He is overseeing the first step of the project to add the third lane to the highway from Columbia to Kingdom City.

Gander said MoDOT hopes to have a contract awarded by February so that work on that stretch of the highway can begin on schedule.

Work in neighboring Warren County is expected to begin next fall. MoDOT hopes to have that stretch of the highway completed by the fall of 2028.