A proposal to build a new Interstate 70 interchange at Stracks Church Road in Wright City will soon be the focus of talks with state highway planners, city leaders have recently indicated.

A little over a year ago, Wright City began the process of hiring an engineering firm to conduct initial planning on a new I-70 interchange that would serve future development and traffic needs in the growing Wright City area. This March, city officials announced that engineers had delivered preliminary plans for the interchange, along with a report on the potential impact of the development, which will now be used to justify the project to the state and federal agencies that control I-70.

I-70 is jointly managed by the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration. To get them on board with the project, city leaders will have to convince their state and federal counterparts that a new interchange would not only serve increasing traffic needs, but also provide direct access for new commercial and industrial development along that stretch of I-70.

Wright City Administrator Jim Schuchmann told The Record this week that he hopes for city representatives and engineers to arrange a meeting with a cross section of MoDOT representatives within the next month. City leaders hope the idea of an interchange at Stracks Church will quickly gain momentum, but they’re tempering their optimism until they hear more from the state.

Among the information being presented to MoDOT are potential layouts for the new interchange, which would also require rerouting the North and South Outer Roads. However, Schuchmann described those plans as “very preliminary.”

“We’re at a point where we feel comfortable saying we have an understanding of what the (interchange) design needs to be,” Schuchmann commented. “MoDOT, however, may have a completely different opinion. They may look at the numbers and say ‘We see this trend, and it needs much further design work.’”

Financing

Along with engineering plans for the project, city leaders also need higher levels of government to get aligned with them on how to fund the construction.

At a recent Wright City Chamber of Commerce event, Mayor Michelle Heiliger said the city intends to pursue as much state and federal grant funding as possible for the project. She said the intent of the city’s elected leaders is to have as little burden as possible on local taxpayers.

In a recent discussion on his Facebook page, Board of Aldermen President Ramiz Hakim identified three potential federal and state infrastructure grants. Each funding source has a different amount of money available and different requirements for participation, potentially including financial contributions from the city.

“We will begin applying for grants now and see what we get awarded,” Hakim commented. “The total cost of this project is estimated around $14 million, so we have some work to do.”

Timeline

Even with a positive response from state officials, Schuchmann is conservatively estimating that construction at Stracks Church Road is still a five- to 10-year project. That’s actually slightly more optimistic than Schuchmann’s projection a year ago, when he compared Wright City’s project to the 12-year effort to build a new interchange in Warrenton.

The difference now, Schuchmann said, is an increased focus on infrastructure improvements at all levels of government. State and federal leaders are pushing infrastructure investments as a necessity for economic growth.

“There’s been more focus over the last year and a half on infrastructure,” Schuchmann commented. “America has woken up and said, ‘We need to do something about our infrastructure.’”