Project set to reshape ‘disorganized’ Highway 59 and Alabama intersection

By Cameron Montemayor

Among the numerous high-traffic areas across St. Joseph, few are constructed quite like the intersection at U.S. Highway 59 near Lake Avenue and Alabama Street, a vital junction for pedestrian, freight and rail traffic.

Between sharp and awkward turns, line-of-sight troubles and limited turn space onto Route U from Highway 59, longtime South Side residents like Robyn Richey see daily how disorganized the intersection can be. 

“It gets crazy here … It’s a cluster,” Richey said. “To navigate it, you got to be very alert, very aware of who you think’s going to go and who you don’t think is going to go.”

When she hears the inevitable sound of the railroad crossing bell each day during her travels, the Lake Contrary resident knows all too well how bad of a traffic jam the area is potentially in store for. 

“When the trains come and they’re backed up for so long and then you’ve got traffic setting here, you got traffic sitting here, all these entrances, they get blocked,” she said. “And people get irritated.”

After nearly five years of planning, design and right-of-way acquisitions, construction is fast approaching on an $8.3 million project from the Missouri Department of Transportation to reshape various aspects of Highway 59, Route U/Alabama Street and Route 752. 

The changes are designed to improve turning movements for tractor-trailers and vehicles, increase capacity for vehicles turning or stopped at the Route U train crossing and boost safety overall.  

“It’s very congested and just kind of disorganized,” said Jose Rodriguez, Northwest area engineer with the Missouri Department of Transportation. “With all that stuff going on, it’s going to kind of clean things up.”

Once a contractor is selected in October after bids are submitted, construction could begin as early as November. A schedule of work and planned detours will be announced later and the project will be a lengthy one. 

“It’s going to be over two years and so then half of it will be built at one time, then traffic will be moved over and then once that’s done, then it’ll get flipped,” he said.  

One of the largest changes to the area will see a new roadway constructed further south of the current intersection to connect Highway 59 with Alabama Street/Route U, eliminating a current portion of Alabama Street/Route U from Stockyards Expressway to the intersection. 

“It’ll help the safety in that aspect,” Rodriguez said. “We expect it to make a huge difference.”

Rodriguez suspects the west portion of the intersection and construction of the new road could come first. 

The new design still requires vehicles to go over the railroad crossing when traveling on Alabama Street/Route U. To reduce further traffic jams, portions of Lake Avenue and Highway 59 will be widened to allow extended north and southbound turn lanes to be constructed. The turn lanes will provide more capacity for vehicles waiting at the railroad crossing, allowing additional vehicles to flow freely while reducing line-of-sight issues in certain areas. 

A notable amount of property in the area had to be acquired to allow the design to move forward as is. As part of that, a string of various entrances and exits along Lake Avenue for the Sinclair Gas Station, Taco John’s and McDonald’s will be consolidated into a single turn lane called a frontage road.

“There’s one driveway there now, not four,” Rodriguez said. “Also over on the east side of the intersection, we will add some turn lanes in.”

MoDOT officials initially looked at the possibility of constructing a bridge over the tracks — a project with a considerably higher price tag and many additional hurdles with the railroad — before deciding on the current alternative. 

As part of the project, direct access to U.S. Highway 59 both from Eureka Street and a nearby alleyway will be eliminated to improve safety and allow space for a new right-turn lane to be built for northbound vehicles going to Alabama Street. The northern portion of Eureka Street will be reconstructed to curve northeast, connecting it with the adjacent alleyway to avoid creating multiple dead ends. 

West Valley Street at the intersection with U.S. Highway 59 will also be reconstructed at more of a curve to improve awkward turns and line of sight. The street will see minor sidewalk extensions along with it.

When all is said and done, travelers like Richey are cautiously optimistic the project will lead to notable improvements in traffic flow and safety, changes she sees as a long time coming. 

“Hopefully it will make the traffic flow a lot smoother and it won’t be backed up so much that you won’t have semis sitting on either Lake (Avenue) or Alabama Street.”