KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Missouri Department of Transportation crews continue to work on the busy Three Trails Crossing, but many drivers are concerned about how long the project will take.
MoDOT crews have been working on the project since early last year with the goal being to add a fifth lane in each direction, redo a few bridges and resurface all lanes.
"By expanding that area, it should help a lot of the through-traffic go ahead and avoid some of those crashes that were happening," MoDOT Assistant Resident EngineerChris Karlin said.
Some people who live in the area aren't holding back their feelings about the project.
"It's discombobulated to say the least," said Stella Kartsonis, who lives near the I-435 interchange with I-470 and I-49, "I can hear from my deck, I can hear the traffic more than I used to."
That's another reason MoDOT is tackling the project, the increased congestion on the roadway was leading to more crashes, according to a recently completed traffic study commissioned by the department.
"They really identified that people live in Lee's Summit and they work at some of the businesses in Overland Park, so you end up putting a lot of commuters who are just going through and so that's what the cause of a lot of congestion is," Karlin said. "Because of that, you end up with a lot of rear-end collisions and that's just due to the congestion. Then, you have three closely spaced intersections on State Line and one on Holmes, and because of that you got a lot of weaving with people trying to get on and people trying to get off."
MoDOT said weather has played a factor in delaying construction progress, but officials believe the project will still be done by May 2020.
