Highway FF Interchange Remains ‘High Priority’ Following TAC Meeting

The conversion of the Highway FF overpass into an interchange on Interstate 44 in Crawford County was voted as a “high priority” during the Meramec Regional Planning Commission’s transportation meeting in December.

The Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) met Dec. 8 to vote on ranking various projects throughout the MRPC area.

Converting the overpass to an interchange has been on the periphery since 2011.

District 2 Commissioner Jared Boast has tried to keep it at the forefront of county transportation projects since coming to office in 2017.

The county ranked the overpass as its top priority last November, along with installing a left turn lane on Highway 19 and Lindburg Road and a bridge over Cherry Valley Branch on Highway 19.

The latter two projects were voted to the “medium” priority list.

Top Regional Priorities

TAC members from each of the counties represented in MRPC selected four-laning Highway 63 from Highway 50 in Osage County to the Phelps/Texas County line and four-laning Highway 50 from roughly one mile west of Linn to the Gasconade/Franklin County line.

Four-laning those two highways has topped TAC’s regional priority list for the last several years.

TAC members then selected high, medium and low priorities from a list of 31 projects. 

The projects were tabulated and weighted to determine a priority list.

MRPC shares the list with the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) Central District for consideration in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).

The STIP is a five-year rolling plan.