Representatives from the Missouri Department of Transportation held a public meeting Oct. 13 in St. James to discuss infrastructure improvement projects along Interstate 44 and Route 68/8 that will begin construction in summer 2027.

Preliminary designs for projects in Phelps County are nearly complete. Major roadway construction plans in St. James include the installation of a roundabout and new pedestrian walkways where Route 68/8 intersects with Highway B. Lanes on Highway B will also be expanded, and new east and westbound ramps installed. Both west and eastbound deceleration lanes at I-44 exit 195 will also be lengthened, and a new connector road constructed to connect Evergreen Street to Route 66 behind McDonald’s.

James Beattie, a transportation project manager with MoDOT, said that replacing the existing traffic signals at that location with a roundabout will help improve traffic flow and relieve vehicle congestion. The intersection, which has traffic flowing into it from at least four points and is near on-and off-ramps at I-44, is used to access St. James Middle School, the Walmart Distribution Center and a new Amazon facility.

“It’s a huge intersection. With the current traffic signal that’s there now, it’s got so many people,” said Beattie. “It causes a delay for traffic to be able to go through it. The roundabout will allow traffic to flow freely.”

Beattie added that MoDOT’s project design studies took into account an expected increase in traffic counts at the intersection fueled by the Walmart Distribution Center and future Amazon facility northwest of the intersection, which he said a roundabout will help absorb.

With the design phase of the multi-year project nearly complete, MoDOT will begin accepting bids in April 2027 and may award a contract as early as May of that year, at which point they will set a “notice to proceed date,” which is the date contractors can begin working.

Beattie said that construction will likely start in July or August 2027 and that the project could take up to two years to complete.

While commuters in St. James will see construction for the next two years, they won’t have to change their route to work or school. MoDOT plans to keep both the intersection and Highway B open throughout construction, with some caveats. Beattie said that while roads will remain open in order to keep inconveniences to a minimum, drivers can expect to see some obstacles as construction proceeds.

“We’re not going to shut the interchange of Route B down. That signal or some form of it will stay in place,” Beattie said. “There’ll be shifting in traffic, some narrowing of lanes, maybe some speed limit drops a little bit. There will be some inconvenience in lane shifting and things like that, but we are not closing.”

Some St. James residents are in favor of the infrastructure project and believe it will make roads safer and less congested.

Joe Schmidt, a St. James resident, said he’s happy with the road infrastructure projects.

“I’ve lived here for 14 years. Across the whole zone, the improvements are long overdue,” Schmidt said, adding that he drives on Highway 68 daily and that traffic jams are frequent, especially during morning and evening rush hours. Schmidt also said he’s worried about a possible learning curve for St. James drivers once the town’s first roundabout is installed.

“I don’t mind roundabouts, but that being said, I sit at roundabouts and yell at people to go because they don’t know what they’re doing,” Schmidt said.

Another St. James resident, Kristy Kochis, said she thinks the roundabout will make accessing Highway 68 safer and smoother.

“I’m happy. Coming off the highway and going into town from the east, it’s very dangerous. I think it’s going to be safer. They need to have something to deal with all the traffic,” Kochis said, adding that the roundabout will likely relieve congestion on that side of town due to Amazon and Walmart facilities and the St. James Middle School.

Kochis also said the roundabout may be confusing for drivers who don’t encounter them often.

“Once they’ve learned a little bit how to navigate them, we’ll get through the growing pains of it all,” Kochis said.

Other locals were less keen on the infrastructure project.

St. James resident Jeff Jones said he thinks the roundabout project will cause further congestion and suggested that building an additional overpass would be a better solution.

“I think it’s going to be a disaster. It will be deadlocked with school, Walmart and Amazon traffic,” Jones said. “It seems like another overpass west of the current one would be a better way to split up the traffic flow. But what do I know?”

Matt Peters, another St. James resident, suggested that a traffic light be installed at the westbound offramp. He also expressed concerns about traffic congestion at the roundabout.

“I agree there needs to be a stoplight at the westbound off ramp. My concern is before and after school, how bad traffic will back up into the roundabout,” Peters said.

As another St. James resident, Andy Laughlin, put it: “roundabouts are great until one person doesn’t understand the assignment and stops.”