About 50 Warren County residents and business owners listened to a Missouri Department of Transportation spokesman talk about the priority list of transportation needs in Lincoln, Montgomery and Warren Counties Thursday night at the Boonslick Regional Planning Commission.Of the 46 potential projects ranging from low priority to high priority, Erik Maninga, MoDOT area engineer for the tri-county area, mostly spoke about potential new interchanges at Interstate 70 and Route MM within the Transportation Development District and I-70 and Stracks Church Road. The I-70/Route MM interchange is listed as a medium priority project. The I-70/Stracks Church Interchange is a high priority project. Funding hasn't been approved for either project, but Maninga said each interchange could cost as much as $15 million to build.Some business owners within the Transportation Development District within the I-70/MM interchange voiced concerns during the meeting that an extra one percent sales tax that would be added to the city's 7.975 percent sales tax would hurt business.Comments from Thursday will be submitted to the Transportation Advisory Committee with a list of the projects and their priority ratings. MoDOT is strictly looking to fund the high priority projects, Maninga said. The proposed overpass at MM is a medium priority project and to be rated high priority the change must be approved by the Boonslick Regional Planning Commission. The board could make their final recommendations Sept. 23.For more, see Thursday's RecordLarge Crowd Hears Area Transportation Needs Prioritized