Gans Road extension options

Lora Wegman graphic

Engineers unveiled a proposed extension of Gans Road west to Providence Road that aims to limit development in the rapidly growing area just south of the Columbia city limits.

Three alignment options presented last night during an open house for the project at Rock Bridge Elementary School have a series of roundabouts that would limit access and steady traffic flow. Engineer Bob Gilbert said the roundabouts are less expensive to build and maintain than signal-controlled intersections.

The design is a response to public comment in the spring from residents who were concerned that the Gans extension could encourage commercial development and diminish their quality of life in the environmentally sensitive area.

"To me, it looks like a good study," Boone County Presiding Commissioner Ken Pearson said. "It’s responsive to the concerns" that were expressed in April.

Two of the three alignment alternatives call for five roundabouts on the nearly 9,000 foot corridor. A third option, the "red" alternative preferred by engineers, has six roundabouts, or one every quarter mile. The estimated project costs range from $14.7 million for the "red" option to just more than $16 million for the "blue" option. A "yellow" option would cost $15.9 million.

County commissioners previewed the plans yesterday afternoon. Gilbert, chief consulting engineer with the Jefferson City firm Bartlett & West, told commissioners that comments from April’s public meeting weighed heavily in selecting alignment alternatives for the Gans Road expansion plans. Those comments focused on environmental concerns and the area’s proximity to Rock Bridge Memorial State Park, as well as imminent commercial development.

"It was pretty clear from the comments that this was not seen as another commercial corridor," Gilbert said. Any potential commercial or residential development was not a focus of the engineering study, he said, "because that depends on the property owners. The main goal of the project is to decide on alignment."

About 90 percent of the corridor would be a two-lane, divided roadway with a "native plant" median all the way to Bearfield Road. Each alternative shows a bridge over Clear Creek, along with sidewalks and bike paths on both lanes.

The city and county public works departments joined forces to interview and select Bartlett & West to study alternatives for connecting Providence with Gans where it joins Bearfield Road just west the Bristol Lake commercial and residential development.

It sits across Highway 63 from the University of Missouri’s Discovery Ridge Research Park, which will connect to Bristol Lake with a new interchange. The Gans corridor, just north of Rock Bridge Memorial State Park, is part of unincorporated Boone County, and possible connection points at Providence and Bearfield roads are adjacent to Columbia city limits.

The $132,000 study is being entirely funded by the county. The next step, after the study is completed and a preferred alignment is accepted, would be the design phase, which the city will direct. Although there are no immediate plans for construction, the study adhered to federal guidelines in case planners want to qualify for any federal funding that might be available.

The project was identified as a need by the Columbia Area Transportation Study Organization 2025 Transportation Plan.

"What I’ve seen so far, and what they’ve mailed to me, I’m in favor of," said Tom Norling, whose home sits at the corner of Rock Quarry and Gans roads. "I like the roundabouts. It would limit the speed."

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