Stage four of the six-stage Lafayette Street Interchange Project in Jefferson City will begin this Friday.
Traffic from the existing eastbound lanes of Route 50 between Monroe and Clark streets will be moved onto the newly-constructed westbound bridge. It will be switched back onto the existing eastbound lanes at Chestnut Street.
These lane changes will allow for the demolition of Route 50’s existing eastbound bridge as well as the addition of an eastbound off-ramp and auxiliary lanes.
Derek Lepper is a Senior Construction Inspector with the Missouri Department of Transportation. Lepper said the lane changes are easy to maneuver and should not have a significant impact on motorists.
“We tried to make all of our transitions so that anybody should be able to go through there with ease," Lepper said. "We’ve got two lanes going both directions. There shouldn’t be anything out there that should be too difficult to traverse.”
The new lane changes will remain in effect until late spring 2016, when highway traffic will be switched back into its respective lanes.
Emery Sapp & Sons is contracting the project, which is part of an effort to improve traffic flow and safety in the area. Project Manager Matthew Oesch said the project has been running smoothly despite some weather-related issues.
“We had a very wet spring, which caused us to lose a couple weeks," Oesch said. "We’ve been working to gain that back. We’re getting closer to being back on schedule. This warm weather has really helped to progress things along."
The project is expected to be completed by fall of 2016 and is estimated to cost about 20 million dollars.
