Range Line project ready for City Council vote

After years of discussion, public hearings and frustration with slow progress, the Columbia City Council will vote Monday on a $29.8 million plan to widen a 2.8-mile stretch of Missouri 763, also known as Range Line Street, from Big Bear Boulevard north to U.S. 63.

The plan is the result of a December public hearing with residents and property owners. After residents urged Columbia officials to move forward, the city submitted its plan to the Missouri Department of Transportation, and the council will now vote on the final product.

Second Ward Councilman Chris Janku said he is pleased

with the plan, which includes both the shoulders and the sidewalks that the city and property owners endorsed.

“I’m just glad it’s moving forward,” he said. “It’s a needed project.”

Cris Burnam, president of the North Columbia League, a group of business owners designed to push the project forward, agrees.

“I’m absolutely happy with the negotiated compromise,” he said. “It’s a big step forward for public safety and economic development in north Columbia.”

Talk of widening Range Line Street has been circulating since the 1990s, most recently in this year’s Second Ward City Council election, as both Janku and competitor Brian Toohey cited the project as a top priority. In the past, difficulty in reaching an agreement resulted from cost conflicts, opposition among business owners to a raised median and the city’s strict sidewalk and pedway requirements.

Burnam said property owners were concerned with timeliness and getting the whole job done at once, which meant widening the road all the way to U.S. 63 instead of stopping at the city limits.

Under the highway department’s most recent proposal, the street would be widened to four 12-foot lanes with a 14-foot raised median. A seven-foot shoulder with bicycle lanes drawn in and a six-foot sidewalk would border each side of the street.

Although the plan does not include the eight-foot pedway that was in the city’s original proposal, City Manager Bill Watkins said he thinks the compromise will work well. Instead of a pedway, the plan would widen the sidewalks from five to six feet on both sides.

“It can accommodate pedestrians,” he said. “We think that is important.”

Money for the project would come from the Transportation Department, Columbia and Boone County. The state would contribute a maximum of $25 million and Boone County a maximum of $1 million. Columbia would be responsible for all other costs, which would amount to an estimated $3.8 million but could rise.

“We’re taking some risks,” Watkins acknowledged.

Boone County Presiding Commissioner Keith Schnarre, however, said the county can’t afford to chip in $1 million. He sent a reply to the transportation agency saying the county can contribute only $682,000. He said he is unsure where the $1 million figure came from.

“It’s a priority, but roads all over the county are always priorities,” Schnarre said. “This is just one of them.”

The agreement also calls for the city to advance the state about $7.4 million to help speed the project along. The money would be repaid by 2010. The Transportation Department will pay $17.6 million toward the project now.

Janku noted that the city advanced money to the state to hasten improvements to Route B in the 1990s.

About $1 million of the city’s contribution to the project will come from proceeds of a sales tax approved by voters in November. The city is also working with property owners to encourage them to donate right-of-way, meaning that property owners would give, rather than sell, the needed property for the project. Right-of-way would count as part of the city’s contribution.

“I think the city is putting up a pretty substantial amount of money,” Watkins said. “I really feel like we’re doing our share.”

Kenny Voss, project manager for the Transportation Department, said the state is finishing a contract with an engineering firm that will begin designing the road next month. Actual construction should begin in fall 2007 and should take two years, Voss said.

“We’re looking forward to the day when we cut the ribbon,” Watkins said.