Highway safety proposal announced

Commissioners and representatives from three counties met in the Liberty High School library Friday night to hear about a highway restructuring proposal that seeks to make the entrance to the campus safer. The junction of US Highway 60 and Highway T in Shannon County is the central access location to the R-III school district middle school and high school campus. According to Shannon County Commissioner Herman Kelly’s presentation “wrecks are prevalent in this area” and it is “a severe danger to anyone and everyone in the community that travels this area.”

Kelly was not alone in this opinion. Rather, the meeting featured dignitaries from Shannon, Howell, and Texas Counties who were unified in their message and mission. The entrance off the highway is dangerous, they agreed. The proposal has four prongs:

-create a turn lane at the 60/T Highway junction

-widen Old Highway 60 turning west off T Highway 

-create an on-ramp for right turns off T Highway

-add flashing caution lights that will flash during school hours

If successful, the project will be the joint effort of the Shannon County Road District, the Howell County Road District, and MODOT.

State Senator Karla Eslinger was present at Friday’s meeting, and her take is that the unified front of support across the communities is what the state budget appropriations committee likes to see. Representatives of the school district, SCOCOG, local law enforcement, the cities of Mountain View and Birch Tree were all present as well and spoke in favor of the urgency of the proposal. 

Eslinger was clear, however, that these budget appropriations take time. They 2023 budget would not be approved by the governor before August. Despite the delay, the senator pledged her support. 

“This road is not gonna get less crowded, and the project will not get less expensive,” Sen. Eslinger commented. 

The next step is to apply to MODOT for a permit. 

MODOT Area Engineer Elquin Auala was present, and she confirmed that, if approved, MODOT would engineer the final version of the project.