Range Line Expansion: Paving the way for northern growth

The construction project to expand Range Line Street from two to four lanes north of Interstate I-70 started in April 2008, will cost about $14 million and will be finished by the end of the year, according to Charles Sullivan, a Missouri Department of Transportation resident engineer.

The city and MoDoT planned and organized the widening project to accommodate the growth of residential housing and commercial development in the north central region, Sullivan said.

The state hired the Lehman Construction Co. (based in California, Mo.) to reconstruct the two-lane state road into a four-lane road, with a median extending from Big Bear Boulevard to Route VV.

The contractors are also working on installing stoplights at Blue Ridge Road, Smiley Lane, Rain Forest Parkway and Brown School Road. Bike lanes will be added to both sides of Range Line Street, and a pedestrian walkway will be built on the east side of the road between Business Loop 70 and Big Bear Boulevard. A shorter sidewalk will be constructed on the west side of the street.

North of Blue Ridge Road, Range Line Street becomes Missouri Highway 763 on the city’s official map.

As the contractors complete parts of the road, they open up more lanes to ease the traffic, Sullivan said.

Although a grocery store is interested in purchasing the Rampart Investment plot on the southwest corner of Blue Ridge Road and Range Line Street, a deal has not been signed yet, developer David Atkins said.

If the land purchase is completed, then the construction will begin in the spring of 2010, he said. The grocery store could be a part of the 140,000-square-foot shopping center that is being developed. One store has purchased a plot in the development area, Atkins said he could not disclose the name of the company.

1. McDonald’s
2. Target Masters
3. Rangeline Car Wash
4. Drummond Investments
5. Movie Gallery
6. Jason’s Frozen Custard Factory
7. Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwich Shop
8. Mike McGlasson State Farm Insurance
9. Americlean Dry Cleaners
10. TP’s Bar & Grill
11. H & R Block
12. Shelter Insurance
13. Hanft Family Chiropractic
14. Team Work Rehabilitation Inc.
15. Sun & Sea Tanning
16. Imo’s Pizza
17. Range Line Liquor & C Store
18. Herigon Steve Construction Inc.
19. Jack and Doris Overton
20. Karon L. Rowe
21. The Answer Salon & Tanning
22. Rampart Investment LLC
23. Alfy Corp.
24. Hertz Equipment Rental Corp.
25. Storage Trust Properties
26. Taco Bell
27. All LLC
28. American Plaza LLC
29. Merchants and Farmers Bank
30. Western Oil Inc.
31. Phillips 66 Petromart
32. Landmark Bank
33. Sonic
34. B C Investments of Columbia LLC
35. Tyser Madonna L Etal.
36. Richard Erickson Revocable Living Trust
37. MFA Petroleum Company Tire
38. Walgreen Company
39. Henry Semon Revocable Trust
40. N & D Inc.
41. On Point Construction LLC et al
42. Lucille Eiffert Trust
43. Formerly Procycle, held by BCNB
44. Casey’s
45. Central Bank of Missouri