Concepts revealed for Highway 92’s future

By Ray Weikal

City and state officials are already in the process of figuring out how road and infrastructure construction might play out west of Interstate 35 over the next 20 years.

Representatives from the city of Kearney and the Missouri Department of Transportation were scheduled for a meeting this week to discuss how to proceed with plans for the Missouri Highway 92 corridor running west from the interstate.

A conceptual plan for the Highway 92 project was e-mailed to the city by MoDOT Transportation Project Manager Mark Fisher on April 28. The plan suggests more lanes and controlled intersections, a 35-mph speed limit, widened ramps and sidewalk installation.

The project will cost about $5.9 million, according to Fisher. Federal money corralled by Rep. Sam Graves will be used to pay for most of the work. Two $2.4 million earmarks were included in the most recent federal transportation spending bill. That leaves a $1.6 million shortfall.

According to MoDOT, project work should begin in early 2010.

“That’s kind of aggressive, but that’s what we’re shooting for,” Fisher said.

Starting just east of the I-35 interchange, Highway 92 will be widened toward the west to four lanes to Nation Road. Extra turn lanes will be added under the interstate, along with widened on- and off-ramps.

Traffic projections suggest seven lanes should be built along Highway 92, but budget concerns caused MoDOT to recommend five lanes, with turn lanes instead.

“We’re hoping to reel in the cost a little bit,” Fisher said.

Left turn lanes and signals will be installed at North Country Avenue. Sam Barr Drive and Nation Road will also get new signals.

Traffic on Highway 92 is projected to jump by about 118 percent in the next 22 years, according to Kearney Community Development Director David Pavlich. That’s why the road project is needed, he said.

Every day, about 17,000 vehicles use the highway in city limits west of I-35, Pavlich said. That traffic may increase to about 37,000 vehicles per day by 2030.

The city is planning for significant growth west of the interstate. A 2006 development plan includes 135,000 square feet of retail space at the northwest corner of Highway 92 and I-35. The MoDOT plans call for construction of an unnamed road running north from the highway and just west of the Pilot truck stop.

“Trucks exiting the truck stop will use this new road to get back to the interstate,” Fisher said. “The new road should be built prior to our project. This will create a busy intersection at North Country and 92.”

One of the goals of the meeting with MoDOT is to work out the timing of the development projects, according to City Manager Jim Eldridge. This includes construction of what Eldridge called the “Pilot road project.”

“MoDOT’s going to meet with the mayor and explain their access management road,” he said. “We’re going to try to coordinate the Pilot road project to go with or before the MoDOT project.”

If the MoDOT project is approved, Highway 92 would be designed to function well until 2030, according to Fisher’s conceptual plans.

It’s typical for major developments like this to be planned out decades in advance, Eldridge said.

“We need to plan in advance so that we can set aside the right of way or properly zone it,” he said. “The planning process is lengthy.”

MoDOT plans for Highway 92:

- four-lane corridor from Nation Road to just east of Interstate 35 

- 35 mph 

- 10- to 11-foot lanes 

- signals at Nation Road, Sam Barr Drive, North Country Avenue 

- widening interstate on- and off-ramps 

- would cost an estimated $5.9 million 

- work would start in 2010

Staff writer Ray Weikal can be reached at 389-6637 or rayweikal@npgco.com.