JEFFERSON CITY — Osage County Western District Commissioner Dale Logan, who lives in Westphalia, was among several local residents who would be impacted by the Hwy. 63 realignment outlined by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to provide compelling reasons for amending the project.

“This actually impacts me directly,” he told the Missouri Highway Commission recently, asking if Hwy. 63 would be a four-lane corridor at the top of the hill south of Westphalia behind the Maries River Bridge. Or would it be three lanes? “You’re bringing a four-lane highway into a two-lane bridge that they’re going to expand and make a three-lane. We’re talking about cars right on top of each other, literally. And, we’re trying to eliminate accidents and deaths; right here’s where they’re going to go, coming into that three-lane bridge now from a four-lane highway, the access points. I agree on the south end; we definitely need an access point there. Personally, and every county resident that has contacted me as a commissioner, no one is for this project. We feel like other projects are more important, Linn being one.”

Logan offered his opinion about the second corridor of the 63 alignment. “The worst part of Highway 63 through Osage County is from Westphalia to Freeburg,” he said. “It’s where all the curves are. There are a lot of accidents and backed-up traffic. We have 8,000 to 10,000 vehicles coming through there every morning and evening, trying to get to Jeff City, where we have 40,000 state employees working. It’s a nightmare to get through there. Let’s do that corridor, if it’s about improving safety, road improvement, and access. The worst part of the highway, from Jefferson City all the way to Rolla, is that 10-mile stretch from Westphalia to Freeburg. So, as a resident and as a county commissioner, that’s what we would like to see MoDOT focus on, the worst part of the road.”

Logan was motivated by MoDOT’s assertion that in the past 10 years, the corridor has seen 190 crashes that have resulted in seven fatalities, 12 serious injuries, and 80 minor injuries.

“I don’t want to downplay the fatalities,” Logan said. “Obviously, that’s a horrible thing, but this four-lane road system is not going to eliminate fatalities. And we all know there are fatalities on every roadway. Those seven deaths that you’re talking about — I know personally what happened. Two of those people were friends of mine who passed away. One of those accidents wasn’t a highway issue; it was distracted driving. One of them was a snowy accident, and unfortunately, he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and was killed. But, it wasn’t the road; it was distracted driving and the road conditions of Mother Nature. So, I just don’t see how this corridor is going to address the concerns of the community in enough of a positive way.

“The 133 overpass is, in my opinion, an absolutely horrible idea, because we’re routing at least 100 — and probably closer to 150 — 18-wheelers down into Westphalia,” said Logan. “I thought part of this process was to eliminate the congestion we have in our small town. I cannot emphasize enough how against this project I am as a taxpayer and as a commissioner, so I want to speak mainly for my constituents. You know that I represent the Western District of Osage County, but as a commissioner, we really represent the entire county, and what our county wants is another project done — either the second corridor of 63 or the Linn bypass. We just don’t see the money being spent on this corridor solving the roadway problems remotely close enough to justify this particular project. We think the other two, either bypass Linn, which is a really big project, or do that second corridor, which is the worst part of 63, roll the curves — highway E for instance, between Westphalia and Freeburg. I know MoDOT is looking at upgrading that over the next few years. There are a lot of accidents there; it’s terrible. So, we’re going to spend a couple million dollars to do that, and if we reroute, there’s a couple million you could put towards the four-land corridor there. I just think this really needs to be rethought. I really hope you guys do not vote to approve this today.”

MoDOT Central District Engineer Machelle Watkins recommended that the commission approve the location and design of the proposed project as presented at the Aug. 21 public hearing, with the addition of a north access to Hwy. 63, J-turn access at the north and mid-section of the new alignment, and extension of the southbound dual lane to the existing climbing lane south of the Maries River.

“We’re incredibly grateful for the public input to the project,” said Watkins. “They really showed up to share, took time out of their days and schedules to have meaningful conversations with us, and then followed up in writing what some of their concerns are. The recommendation that we bring forward to you today really works to try and incorporate the theme of those concerns.”

The public meeting at the Knights of Columbus in Westphalia on Aug. 21 included more than 240 attendees. A total of 274 responses were submitted to MoDOT during the public comment period.

“Our biggest concern is we know this is coming, whether it’s coming now or later,” said Logan. “We all accept that. We understand progress and we embrace that, but it is so important to do it right, and, at this juncture, it is not being done right enough. I just really hope that you guys will not approve this project at this time. I think it needs significant improvement. And honestly, I think we need to do the second corridor first. I realize that’s a pain in a way. But my goodness, if you would talk to a portion of the 8,000 to 10,000 people coming through their every day, I guarantee you 100% of them are going to tell you what they would prefer done is the corridor from Westphalia to Freeburg. We have Century Farms, you’re going through. My farm in Maries County will be in the third corridor. The project will go through my farm and split my 150 acres right in half. But again, I realize there’s progress.”

Watkins referred to residential impacts in her presentation to the commission.

“One of the things that we try to do when we work on a project like this is to reduce the impacts to the bare minimum that we can, so one of the priorities of the project, I know from the beginning, was we don’t want to take homes, we don’t want to split things in half, if we can avoid it,” she said. “But sometimes those are unavoidable. So as we get into the final detailed design, we’ll try to make those accommodations where we can.”

Still, she said, MoDOT understands that residents would be affected. “I know there’s really nothing that I can say that will probably help that, but we do care about that, and we try to be as respectful as we can,” said Watkins. “This is a long-needed project that’s going to improve safety and the reliability of the corridor, and we’re looking forward to moving this forward.”

Osage County resident Mark Russell, in his five-minute testimony, told commissioners that MoDOT has proposed changes that may adversely affect the community. “The proposed ingress route off of the new project does not match with the existing infrastructure and roads in Westphalia proper,” he said. “We think redesigning this would seem to be logical and maybe should be considered in case of fire or emergency needs. Westphalia serves a lot bigger area than just the town. When you do this, you nearly start bottlenecking or creating a cul-de-sac in a community.

“When you reroute emergency vehicles and different things, there will be longer response times under the proposed plan,” Russell continued. “That may not benefit the community, and it increases the potential for property loss and emergency health delays. We believe better alternatives are possible.”

Russell said eliminating the southern access at the Maries River would compound traffic in the community for the Osage R-3 school district and the Catholic parochial school, as well as local businesses.

“In addition, not incorporating (Hwy.) 133 into the new proposed route and creating an overpass and routing it into Westphalia is going to be a challenge. A concrete business stated they have 100 trucks on Hwy. 133 going in and out of their business every day between Meta and Westphalia,” said Russell. “Businesses located in Meta will be forced to route through the community to access the new proposed Route 63 South. So, they’ll be making a loop into town and then coming back out to get on southbound 63.

“We mentioned to MoDOT that the Callaway Nuclear Plant is a long way from Westphalia, but if there was ever a nuclear accident, Westphalia residents are in a path where the evacuation of the schools and area residents would be necessary,” Russell added. “If you block off the south exit, and you have to route everybody back through one place to get back out, it’s going to be difficult. It is located in a designated evacuation path, and we think planning for the evacuation of schools and community residents in this instance could be very difficult.”

Russell noted that according to historical data, approximately 8,000 vehicles per day travel through some or all of the proposed project area. That’s 29 million vehicles in a 10-year period. “According to MoDOT, there’s been seven fatalities, 12 serious injuries, and 80 minor injuries over that 10-year period,” he said. “When you look at that, the new route is going to have more curves than the old route. The data doesn’t reveal the number of severe or fatal accidents that had two or more vehicles involved.”

A four-lane highway avoids vehicles traveling toward each other head-on. “Local residents have shared with me that several of the fatalities and serious accidents would not have been prevented with dual lanes in each direction,” said Russell. “So, dual-lane roads all over the state of Missouri imply one thing: increased vehicle speeds that would seem to indicate more law enforcement time is going to be needed to monitor that. We think slowing down that corridor to 55 — and I know nobody likes to go 55 — but slowing it down is going to reduce accidents and increase safety.”

Russell added that citizens think maintaining and retaining the existing highway corridor would be preferable. “MoDOT has listened to us, and the northern route is opening up,” said Russell. “We like that. One of the suggestions we had was to design and engineer a dedicated center turn lane at the soccer fields at the Knights of Columbus. Traffic heading north that wants to go into those soccer fields can get into a center turn lane, so we’re not backing up traffic there when big tournaments are going on, or tractor pulls, or whatever. We think that’s important.”

An exit coming off of northbound 133 directly onto the southbound exit of the new highway would eliminate a lot of those problems, including the presence of heavy trucks going through Westphalia. “This is vitally important,” said Russell.

Gloria Schmitz spoke about preserving existing land. “I heard the director say a few minutes ago that they try hard not to take homes in the process but we live on a Century Farm,” she said. “He implied that it’s less of an impact going through farm land than going through homes. It’s a bad deal either way, I just ask for clarification on this.

“On my remarks card at the town hall meeting in Westphalia, I suggested narrowing the center medians by use of concrete barriers,” Schmitz continued. “Obviously, it would be less land acquisition if you would use concrete barriers. And in the response, they said concrete barriers are not safe. The barriers are on I-70, Hwy. 50, Hwy.  54 at the Lake, Hwy. 179. If they’re not safe, why are we still utilizing them in the state?”

Schmitz noted the Hwy. 50 project stopped because MoDOT ran out of money. “It stopped short of where the problem was, which is at State Tech,” she said. “I was told that a meeting was held with the Meramec Regional Planning Commission several months ago. At this meeting, the Linn bypass was voted the priority project and Hwy. 63 was second. The Hwy. 63 project is themed around safety. As Mark Russell stated, maybe there needs to be a study conducted to determine the reason for the fatalities, such as hitting a deer, falling asleep, being intoxicated, texting, being distracted, etc. A four-lane highway will just increase the speed and possibly cause more fatalities. I feel, especially where the corridor is projected to begin, which happens to be at our Century Farm, that we lower the speed limit to 55 mph and then enforce it.”

She thanked the commissioners for their time and consideration.

Floyd Reinkemeyer, who lives on CR 512 in Westphalia, expressed concern about access from his property to the new highway. “The highway will take basically all the land I have in that area, which is around 20 acres,” he said, noting he can’t do much about that, but it will take him away from my cattle and other farm responsibilities. “I emphasize strongly, you guys changed a little bit, that you made a dual highway all the way up the hill. I was going to say that west of Linn, you’ve got a dual highway running into a single highway, and then that highway turns off to the left to go into the business route at Loose Creek. It would look to me like you could do the same thing there at Westphalia on the south end. I think strongly that keeping that end of the highway open as much as the north end will be a benefit (in the) long run. You’ve got to have an in road, an out road, and a business route through Westphalia, because Westphalia is running parallel with the new highway proposal. Those are two big arguments I would have, really keeping that end open. I will have to find out somewhere along the road for access to the new highway, because it looks like I will be shut off.”

Kenny Rehagen owns a farm on CR 501, and the new highway will go through the middle of his property. “I may have land, maybe on the other side of the highway I won’t have access to,” he told commissioners. “That’s what I’m worried about.”

Debbie Stegeman agreed with other comments about the south end of the project. “I look at what was done when Hwy. 50 was expanded, how many access roads you allowed for Loose Creek, and the original plan for Westphalia was going to allow for one,” she said. “You’ve now made it two, but I think there needs to be the south-end continuation, like others have said, for multiple reasons, including the effect that it’s going to have on the schools. I have a real concern with the farmers and stuff who are losing access to parts of their property. I spent two days in September driving all the way to Macon. So I covered the entire four-lane Hwy. 63, starting in Osage County, all the way to Macon. And, if you have noticed how many access roads and crossover roads are on that four-lane stretch, from private driveways, from farms, so they can get across property from one side to the other. Somebody needs to pay attention to the fact that, like others have said, there are accesses that have been allowed with extra turn lanes and stuff that make more sense than cutting the farmer off so he can’t get to his property when you’ve got them all the way up and down that four-lane stretch all the way up to Macon.”

Category Manager Nick Lepper, representing Geir Oil, which owns Eagle Stop in Westphalia, told commissioners that he appreciates the effort and coordination that go into projects of this magnitude and recognizes the importance of improving transportation infrastructure for the safety of Missouri travelers. “I think today’s testimony by some others has raised questions on what safety points are most prioritized,” he said. “The proposed realignment and associated design changes raise serious concerns about the long-term impact on our business operations and ability to continue serving this community.”

He noted that the company’s stores are built on accessibility and convenience. “Customers choose our locations because of direct visibility and easy access from normal travel patterns,” Lepper added. “According to information MoDOT has provided, this realignment is projected to reduce daily traffic counts at our Westphalia location by approximately 75%.”

That reduction, he said, combined with potential limitations on ingress and egress, would significantly affect Gier Oil’s ability to operate and remain sustainable in Westphalia.

“Experience from other Missouri bypass projects and neighboring state projects has shown that when through-traffic is diverted around a local community such as this, local retail and service businesses often see major declines in sales,” said Lepper. “These sometimes point to the closure of convenience retail fuel and quick-serve dining locations, all of which we represent. Westphalia would be among the hardest hit because of a loss of direct access, removing the very convenience that our stores rely on. It’s important to note that Geir Oil has been actively investing in communities across Missouri through new builds, raise and rebuild projects, and replacing older and outdated stores with modern facilities that better serve both our residents and travelers. These projects represent significant private investment, create long-term jobs, generate long-term tax revenue, and strengthen the communities we operate in. For that reason, it’s deeply concerning to see a project designed that not only routes a significant portion of our customers away from our location, but also restricts direct access to our site from the new bypass route that intersects our property. At this stage, we have not seen a clear plan for maintaining ingress and egress to and from our property once a new connector and intersections are constructed. I’ll also note that Geir Oil, as a property owner, has not been contacted for any approval in June, as previously mentioned. Our understanding of the proposal is that eastbound traffic on a new connector would have to turn off the routes and backtrack just to reach us. That type of circuitous movement is not practical for customers seeking convenience and would further discourage patronage. We are proud of the role our stores play in supporting local economies. We want to continue doing so, but to do that, we need to maintain reasonable access and visibility to the traveling public. We appreciate your willingness to meet with us to discuss these impacts in detail and explore the potential solution. We’re confident we can find a path forward that meets both the goals of this project and preserves the vitality of local businesses along this corridor again.”

Commission Chairman Warren K. Erdman noted there were some amendments to the proposal based on citizen input. “So, this alignment then would lead to more detailed engineering,” he said, adding that subsequently, the commission would have to approve it and then solicit bids.  “We’ve got quite a few steps to go here.”

Erdman agreed that some interesting questions were raised, of which he was not aware, and thanked the people who brought some details to the commission’s attention. “I think they’re legitimate questions,” he said. “I’m sure there are answers to those, but we’re not going to be able to do that today. But I would like to have some answers to some additional questions. I’m going to defer to the will of the commission, but personally, I would like to defer this decision for 30 days and get some answers to some questions.”

MoDOT Director Ed Hassinger agreed. “I think certainly some of the things that were raised are the details that would be worked out in the final design,” he said. “Some questions have been raised about why we don’t do the middle section first.”

Hassinger noted the entire purpose of the project is the big-picture route to Rolla. “So you’ve got to start at the beginning, and the highest traffic volume corridor is Jeff City going south. That’s why it was chosen. You don’t really start in the middle. That’s really not a very good, effective way to put in a four-lane corridor. And there is no doubt that a corridor is safer than a two-lane highway without minimal shoulders. So, the solution that has been proposed is what gets us to a safer corridor that moves the necessary traffic that is growing. The corridor between Rolla and Jefferson City is one of those busier areas in the state. We can work on some of those details, and we’ll answer the questions that have been raised and bring that back to you.”

Erdman noted there was not enough time at the commission meeting to address all the questions raised by the public, and asked Watkins to prepare responses to concerns raised by residents.

Vice Chair W. Dustin Boatwright, noting he’s the engineer among commission members, said he would like to understand how truck traffic would be routed.

“Truck traffic would follow the route that it follows today, rather than diverting it onto the new alignment,” said Watkins. “We can certainly address it.”

Commissioners Francis Slay and Boatwright praised residents for their presentations and the professionalism with which they were delivered. “I know this is an emotional topic, and I really appreciate everybody’s approach and discussing it with us as you did,” said Boatwright. “It’s pretty refreshing.”

Commissioner Daniel Hegeman noted that access to farmland is a concern. “I assume we can’t deny access to a piece of property,” he said. “We have to make provisions to allow access to a property. You can’t leave a piece of property, especially if we bisect that. We can’t leave it high and dry.”

Watkins confirmed that MoDOT is making provisions that allow people access to their land.

Commissioner Gregg Smith added, “I understand everybody’s concerns, and I’m fine taking some time to make the decision. I think this thing’s (been) going on for a long, long time, and it needs to come to a head. We need to decide what we’re going to do, but there are concerns, so I would direct the director to get these answers quickly.”

Vernon Schmitz offered a prophetic experience. “When I was six or seven years old, my dad asked me to go to the back ridge field to check the cattle,” he said. “I saw a big white X on this field. So when I got back to the house, I asked Dad about this big X. He said, ‘Well son, someday there’s going to be a dual-lane right through our house and the barn.’ Since that was around 1962, I think we could really sit back and look at this whole picture again. Why not take another year, or a couple of years, or a few months to really study this project??”

Another resident encouraged commissioners to visit Westphalia and see how cramped the corridor is and how bad the congestion has become.

Assistant Central District Engineer Randy Aulbur noted that in the early 2000s, regional partners approached MoDOT about widening the highway due to traffic and crashes.

The regional Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) in Rolla, consisting of elected officials, indicated this project was its second-highest priority.

Planning began in 2006, with public involvement opportunities to include public meetings. Two meetings were held in 2007, and in 2008, four locations emerged as alternatives.

An Environmental Impact Study (EIS) was conducted in 2009, and this project was added to MoDOT’s Tier II high-priority unfunded needs list in 2019.

In August 2022, a public comment period was opened for reevaluation, and a property-owner-requested meeting took place in October.

As funding became available in 2023, the project was moved to the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) for 2023-27.

A reevaluation of the EIS and preferred alternative was completed and approved by the Federal Highway Administration. “The purpose of that reevaluation was to assess if the original findings were still accurate,” said Aulbur.

The commission’s December meeting will be held in Springfield.