For those who use James River Freeway to come to Cox South, now is the time to find and start using an alternate route.
Bob Edwards with the Missouri Department of Transportation warns that construction on the National-James River interchange and the accompanying underpass access to Cox South will make National Avenue “a major choke point” for traffic.
In mid-October, construction began on a new, $10 million interchange for the intersection of National Avenue and James River Freeway. Over the next 10 months, the interchange will be transformed into a “diverging diamond” configuration similar to the one at Kansas Expressway and Interstate 44.
When the project is completed, scheduled for August 2010, the intersection will provide smoother traffic flow with less “stand still” time and a lower risk of rear-end collisions.
In the meantime, though, construction will mean slow moving traffic through the area, with lane closings, narrowed lanes and lane shifts on National. Access will remain open to Cox from National throughout the project.
Edwards says from now until March and possibly July of 2010, National Avenue will have only one southbound lane open to traffic from just south of Primrose Street to the bridge over the freeway. Northbound National Avenue will have two lanes of traffic open.
Drivers need to be prepared for traffic to move slowly through the entire project, especially during the busiest times of day.
Crews will work to widen the National Avenue bridge to provide three lanes in each direction and extra lanes will be added to the ramps from James River onto National. An additional lane will be added in each direction on National south of the bridge to Kingsley Street and North of the bridge to Bradford Parkway. The project also includes an additional lane in each direction on James River between National and Campbell Avenues.
In addition to the changes on the overpass, CoxHealth has committed $3 million for ramp access to Cox South from National. The design will eliminate the left turn lane from northbound National into the driveway south of the current ER. Instead, drivers going north on National and wishing to turn into the campus will make a right at Bradford and then loop under National via a new underpass that will emerge west of National on the service road near the employee parking lot.
The traffic effects of the project include:
• At times, lanes on the National Avenue bridge will be reduced to one through lane and one left-turn lane in each direction
• In the area between the bridge and Primrose, National will be reduced to three lanes
• Nighttime lane closings will be needed at times on James River between National and Campbell.
When completed, the project is expected to provide smoother traffic flow around the south campus and accommodate increasing traffic for the new Emergency Department and future expansions.
Frequent updates on the construction can be found at the following locations:
• Modot.org/Springfield
• Springfieldmo.gov
• Twitter.com/modotspringfiel
• Twitter.com/cityofsgf
• Nixle.com (sign up and receive free project updates via e-mail or text message).
Posts
