Effort Underway to Eventually Extend James River Freeway through Northern & Western Greene County
A conversation with Greene County Commissioner Rusty MacLachlan
A follow-up article including further documentation can be accessed here.
TL;DR and a few things to keep in mind
First, given that a transportation study has yet to even be funded, let alone the entire project, any eventual pathway could be completely different from what appears on the map below.
When I asked Commissioner MacLachlan if I could take a photo of the highlighted tentative route on the laminated map** he’d brought to our meeting, he politely declined, understandably concerned that it could create unnecessary anxiety for landowners given the early stage of the project being pursued.
Although I didn’t take a photo, I wrote down the relevant intersecting roadways and then recreated the route from memory when I returned home. The image below is a close - - though not exact - - approximation of the tentative pathway contained on the original map.
Second, per MacLachlan, a James River North Loop would, depending on the availability of federal funding, take 10 to 30 years from now to complete at an estimated cost of $800 million. It would likely be implemented in different phases over the course of a number of years.
Third, a public meeting regarding transportation studies and planning in northwestern Greene County has been scheduled by the Greene County Commission on August 8 at 7 p.m. at the Willard First Baptist Church, 202 W Jackson Street in Willard.
Background
I first heard about a James River North Loop (abbreviated JRNL for the purpose of this article) when it was mentioned by State Representative Bill Owen during a brief address he gave to the Willard Board of Aldermen in December 2022:
“As we’ve talked before, I think, I’ve talked to you about that I’m working with the County Commission and Senator-elect Curtis Trent on trying to get the monies for a [transportation] study to bring James River Freeway up around Willard”.
You can find the audio of Owen’s address here. He mentions the JRNL at the one-minute mark. The minutes of the meeting are here and state under Citizen Input that Owen would “like to ultimately extend James River Freeway to Willard”.
In June 2023, Owen again mentioned the JRNL extension in another brief address to the Willard Board:
Each year, the Missouri Legislature is required to pass a budget by early May, and the governor generally signs the budget by late June after vetoing any earmarked items he finds objectionable.
A transportation study would determine the necessity and potential route for future development of a JRNL. However, the study Owen mentioned in June 2023 didn’t occur. Given the timing of his address, I’m assuming the money for that study was either vetoed by the governor prior to signing Missouri’s Fiscal Year 2024 budget into law (shortly after Owen spoke to the Board in June 2023) or his comments were entered incorrectly into the meeting minutes found here.
In November 2023, I emailed Owen to request an update (though I can’t recall why) and to ask if there was a map of a potential route. He replied:
In early May of this year, the Missouri Senate passed their Fiscal Year 2025 Budget. The budget includes funding (most of which was later approved by the governor at the end of June) for the I-44 project Owen mentions above as being an impediment to “working on [a] James River Freeway” extension - - a JRNL.
At the end of May, two weeks after the I-44 project was funded, I received an encrypted and anonymous email about the JRNL effort. The sender shared detailed information and expressed concerns with and skepticism of the necessity of a new corridor, and they requested that I make the public in and around Willard aware of the effort. Over the next couple of months we exchanged several more emails until last Friday when the encrypted account went dark - - deleted by the sender.
According to those emails, $1.5 million in funding for a transportation study for a James River North Loop had originally been included in Missouri’s 2025 budget. The earmarked $1.5 million made it all the way through the entire budget process, but then, at the 11th hour, it was cut just prior to passage by the Senate.
Owen had mentioned the estimated $1.5 million transportation study for a JRNL in his November email, and $1.5 million for a study very nearly made it into the approved Missouri 2025 budget. But where did that $1.5 million figure come from?
A conversation at Big Momma’s
Enter Greene County 1st District Commissioner Rusty MacLachlan.
The Greene County Commission is composed of three elected members - - a presiding commissioner, a commissioner for District 1 for western Greene County, and a commissioner for District 2 for eastern Greene County.
On June 20th, I contacted Rusty via email to ask if he’d pushed for the funding for a transportation study to be included in the Missouri 2025 budget, and if he’d be willing to answer questions regarding the JRNL effort. He responded:
A few days later we met at Big Momma’s Coffee & Espresso Bar. I always try to be ten minutes early to meetings. Upon arrival, I purchased a coffee and headed for the back, only to discover Rusty already seated at a table. He carried with him a half-inch thick file folder, and introduced himself with a confident and friendly tone. I liked him immediately. He’s very much a forward thinker and politely critical of political bodies that operate reactionally. A seventh-generation home builder, you can learn more about Rusty here, here, and here.
What follows are my notes of our conversation, along with a few explanations for clarity.
“At OTO we voted and approved unanimously to place [a transportation study for a JRNL] on our Tier 1 unfunded needs,” Rusty said. Tier 1 needs are OTO’s highest priority.
Per OTO’s website, the Ozarks Transportation Organization is the transportation planning organization for the Springfield region and includes local elected and appointed officials from around the area as well as technical staffs from the state and federal level.
Per Rusty, the OTO didn’t initially have an interest in the JRNL effort, but now they see “the impact and potential it would have.” He said that Sara Fields, Executive Director at OTO, helped him reach out to engineering groups to develop a budget for a study. Once a study is completed, it would make the effort “shovel ready” for federal funding.
I’m assuming the $1.5 million figure came from those discussions.
“We had our $1.5 million in the Missouri budget this year, and we made it to the final cut,” Rusty said. “We really thought we had it, but it got cut at the very last minute.”
So with help from OTO and State Rep. Bill Owen, and by explaining the “big need” to state representatives, senators, the governor and lieutenant governor - - just talking to the right people - - Rusty’s efforts to acquire funding for the study were nearly successful.
But the 11th hour defeat hasn’t deterred him.
“I know what I need to do now.”
Since then he’s met with people at Convoy of Hope and with John Griesemer of Springfield Underground. Rusty says that both organizations are very supportive of the project for transportation reasons. And he continues to communicate with the OTO and SMCOG (discussed below). For the 2026 budget year, he feels he’ll be much better prepared to push for funds for a transportation study.
Earlier in the effort, when Rusty first sought the support of Bill Owen, he originally envisioned only taking a James River North Loop as far as Highway 13. Bill considered the plan and told Rusty, “Let’s take it all the way to Fair Grove.”
Owen has long pushed for the expansion of I-44 to six lanes through Springfield. Now that funding for I-44 is included in the 2025 budget, those efforts have proven fruitful.
I asked Rusty if Presiding Commissioner Bob Dixon and Commissioner 2nd District John Russell were like-minded on pursuing a JRNL.
“Really, we are of one mind on that,” he responded. “It’s a great team.”
When asked if there were others on board with the effort, Rusty responded:
“We’ve not received any direct pushback that I’m aware of. I have beat this drum about everywhere I’m at. Any feedback I’ve gotten has all been positive.”
He’s also met with the Springfield mayor and a few members of city council who support the idea. He says the City of Republic, in particular City Administrator David Cameron, is very excited about it.
The estimated cost and a tentative route
Rusty opened his file folder and revealed a laminated map** that included a highlighted tentative route, and he emphasized how it was just a working guess and very preliminary.
He explained that Sara Field at OTO had helped him speak with a number of engineers to research a cost estimate for a complete James River North Loop - - a route extending from where James River currently meets I-44, to around Willard, and then all the way to Highway 65. The estimated cost - - $800 million.
Like OTO, the Southwest Missouri Council of Governments (SMCOG) also now has a JRNL study on their own “number-one-needs” list. SMCOG is an association of local governments and stakeholders, and is the federally-designated Economic Development District for Southwest Missouri, overseeing the growth and development of the region and providing professional services and info to assist cities and counties.
Rusty explained how SMCOG had, at some point, requested funds for a transportation study to improve Highway CC, and how he suggested to SMCOG that the study should be done as if it were a divided highway. That way, if SMCOG’s efforts to acquire funding for a study were successful, an eventual expansion of Highway CC could possibly become phase one of a JRNL.
Rusty eventually began recommending to SMCOG that they pursue funding for a study of an entire route for a JRNL rather than one that only encompassed Highway CC. If that study were funded, it would enable engineers to figure out what would make the most sense for the different phases of a JRNL.
A potential future Partnership Industrial Center
Rusty’s thoughts then turned to the railroad, specifically the rail line that runs through Elwood to Ash Grove.
He’d spoken with Jack Stack, president and CEO of SRC Holdings Corporation, and asked if childcare was a problem for his employees. According to Rusty, Jack told him that he would love to have a childcare facility close to an industrial park to assist their employees.
He’d also spoken with Dr. Lyle Foster, Assistant Professor of Sociology at MSU and owner of Big Momma’s Coffee and Espresso Bar, about the issue of generational poverty. Foster explained to Rusty that when children see both their parents working, they’re more inclined to join the workforce and have that as a goal for themselves. Per what Foster told him, many in the Springfield area would like to find full-time employment, but a lack of affordable housing and childcare in close proximity to a place of employment are a big impediment to doing so.
Rusty then explained how the Industrial Revolution and military personnel returning from WWII both created a need for “workforce housing” - - a term for affordable housing for households with earned income that is insufficient to secure quality housing in reasonable proximity to the workplace (see Wikipedia).
Based on these conversations and his extensive experience as a home builder, he sees a JRNL as part of a potential remedy for generational poverty.
Pointing to the area of the map near Highways TT and EE southeast of Bois D’arc, he explained, “We’d have wide open space with railway and [eventual] highway infrastructure.”
He asked (and this is a paraphrase), “Could we build a partnership industrial center [PIC] with a full-time childcare facility that’s surrounded by workforce housing?”
He sees a PIC that includes childcare and workforce housing as a pilot program and means of attracting federal funding. It “rings a lot of bells at the federal level” and could become a model for future industrial areas around the country. Rusty said he isn’t looking to compete with the existing PIC sites, but thinking ahead to the future and looking for the next one.
Rusty has “strategically” placed himself on the transportation committee for NACO - - the National Association of Counties - - and he listens for the terms and phrases that indicate where the federal government would like to spend money.
“How many of these [boxes] can I check off?” The more he can check off, the higher a JRNL rises on the federal funding list. But a JRNL needs a transportation study in order to attract federal funding, and funds for that study will likely have to be obtained from the state.
As an aside, he mentioned that the existing Partnership Industrial Center on the west side of Springfield has sold more lots in the past six months than in the past four years. He believes the area is primed for growth. And, as I’ve written about before, if you look here at Springfield’s highest priorities for annexation, nearly all the indicators point to westward expansion.
Protecting family farms
Because half of Rusty’s family are farmers, he places a very high value on the county’s family farms.
He explained that he drew the line from north to south along Farm Road 79 because it was a long, straight line of property boundaries that minimized splitting parcels of land. Coupled with an east/west route composed of Highways CC and BB, it looked like a reasonable space. But again, it’s only a working guess, subject to change and heavily dependent on attracting federal funding.
But Rusty sees no reason St. Louis and Kansas City should continue to get a majority of federal funds, and he feels it’s time those funds start coming back to Greene County.
“We’re one of the fastest growing areas in the state, and we need to make sure we’re ready for that.”
“There are going to be industrial areas, there are going to be hotel and entertainment districts. And then there is going to be farmland that we want to try to preserve and protect.”
The county has a land use plan that needs to be updated. He feels the commission needs to plan for a James River North Loop to be able to manage future growth for the next 30+ years. To plan for it now rather than reacting to pressing needs in the future.
When I asked Rusty about how soon a JRNL could be completed, he said he’d been told that it could be as short as ten years and as many thirty. Again, it just depends on the “traction” the project can get at the federal level.
Some of the advantages
Per Rusty, a JRNL would provide the area with a better presentation for travelers from Kansas City and beyond. It would improve access to the Springfield-Branson National Airport, provide better access to the Republic region, and much faster access between northwestern and southeastern Greene County (for example, imagine how quickly you could travel from Walnut Grove to Rogersville). Willard in particular - - if the city chose to - - could become an area for an entertainment zone, hotels, and restaurants for those traveling to Springfield for sporting events or to the airport. And it creates opportunities for those from counties around Greene - - Polk, Dade, Dallas, etc. - - to be able to get to the area more quickly.
An upcoming public meeting and an apology
After my June conversation with Commissioner MacLachlan, I’d intended to write an article about the JRNL effort that would have coincided with a then-upcoming town hall about how residents of Willard and northern Greene County would “be impacted by the current budget bill”. That meeting was to be attended by Rep. Owen, Senator Curtis Trent, and others and was supposed to have occurred at the Willard Fire Protection District’s headquarters on July 13. Rusty told me that he had also been asked to attend. However, the town hall was either cancelled or never officially scheduled.
Now, a public meeting regarding transportation studies and planning in northwestern Greene County has been scheduled by the Greene County Commission for Thursday, August 8 at 7 p.m. at Willard First Baptist Church. I understand that Representative Bill Owen and Presiding Commissioner Bob Dixon will be in attendance.
Lastly, I owe Rusty an apology.
Not long after our conversation, I shared what he had told me - - along with the map I’d recreated - - with a friend who resides west of Willard. They asked if it would be okay to share the info to a small Facebook group. At the time, I didn’t consider the possibility that my friend would share the map along with the information. But that is my fault, not my friend’s. Shortly after, a concerned resident of western Greene County who saw my friend’s Facebook post started a blog about the effort here. Until eventually the information - - and map - - made its way to the considerably larger Willard MO - City News & Issues Facebook group. At which point it garnered much attention and caused many phone calls to be placed to Rep. Owen and the Greene County Commissioner’s office.
Unfortunately, and despite the best efforts of my friend to reiterate that the route wasn’t set in stone, some looked at the map and may have assumed that it was. Additionally, others unintentionally spread misinformation about the effort. Then, to top it all off, two members of Willard’s Planning and Zoning Commission, rather than being helpful, chose to be rude on Facebook and offer area residents no explanation whatsoever. It took the phone calls and emails of regular citizens to find out information for themselves.
Were I not banned from the Willard MO - City News & Issues group, I’d have been happy to correct the misinformation and answer any questions. But when authorities intentionally exclude some from the conversation because they don’t like or fear what they have to say, this became an illustrative example of what can happen. Then the banners blame “Facebook misinformation” and regular citizens when they themselves are the real problem.
If you live in or around Willard, ask yourself this:
Why should you be hearing about a two-year-old effort to pursue a JRNL from a guy who lives in Strafford rather than from the elected representatives in your city who are supposed to keep you informed? Commissioner MacLachlan and Representative Bill Owen have certainly made no secret of it. It’s been mentioned at several Willard Board of Alderman meetings in the past two years. And I’ve mentioned it at least twice in my own Facebook group. To me, it seems like something that people would want to know about. And were I your alderman, you’d have heard about it a long time ago.
G.K. Chesterton observed, “It is very difficult to become a politician and continue to be a citizen.”
He was right.
**Commissioner MacLachlan emailed me after the release of this article to remind me that his map was not laminated. I had recently ordered a laminated map of Missouri, receiving it in the mail a few days before finishing this article, and apparently conflated the two.