The Reporter newspaper, Camdenton Missouri

The Reporter covers Miller, Morgan and Camden County in Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks and is published once per week on Wednesdays.

Published January 9, 2019

One lane of Route 54 to close

CAMDEN COUNTY – Traffic on U.S. Route 54 will be reduced to one 10-foot lane in each direction from the Camden County Route KK intersection to Key Largo Road in Osage Beach for pavement repair.

The work is taking place as part of the Camden County Route 54 Safety Improvement Project. The repair work between Route KK and Key Largo Road is scheduled to be completed and the lanes will be reopened by the end of January.

One lane of Route 54 in each direction will be open at all times during the work. All work included in this project is weather permitting.

Periodic lane closures continue on both eastbound and westbound Route 54 between Osage Beach and Camdenton for the installation of median guard cable.

One lane of Route 54 will be open at all times in both directions during the work.

The $2.485-million project includes various Route 54 safety improvements including:

• Installation of median guard cable along Route 54 between the city of Camdenton and west of the Camden County Route KK intersection in Osage Beach
• Intersection improvements at Spring Valley Road and Route 54
• Westbound Route 54 deceleration lanes at Key Largo Road, Runabout Drive and Cape Woods Drive
• A westbound acceleration lane at Key Largo Road
• An eastbound Route 54 acceleration lane at Camden County Route A
• The installation of three J-turns on Route 54 at the following locations: east of Key Largo Road, east of Camden County Route A and west of Route A

The Missouri Department of Transportation has studied 19 different J-turn intersections in Missouri, and the J-turn design resulted in a 25 percent reduction in crash frequency for all crashes.

Fatal crashes decreased by 88 percent at J-turn intersections, and serious injury crashes were reduced by 78 percent. One of the most severe crash types, the left turn, right angle crash, was eliminated by the J-turn. For more information about J-turns, visit www.modot.org/j-turns

The median guard cable that is currently in the process of installation on this project has been shown to prevent almost all crossover accidents. The entire project is scheduled for completion in August 2019.

For more information about this project, visit the project webpage at www.MoDOT.org/Camden-County-Route-54-Safety-Improvements.