OZARKS MISSOURI:Resort bridge tolls

The Lake of the Ozarks toll bridge which opened for traffic May 1 has been handling more traffic than forecast in its first three months, according to its manager Larry Gridley.

“We’re very pleased,” he says of the average 2500 vehs/day on the two-lane bridge, which for a $2.50 toll on cars provides a shortcut across the intestine-shaped lake which is a booming vacation, resort, retail and retirement area in the wooded rolling terrain of the Ozark mountains of central Missouri. The Lake is formed by a hydro-electric dam built in 1932 and the shoreline is unusual in being the private property of the abuting owners. There are no less than 1,840km (1,150mi) of shoreline on the many twists and inlets of the Lake and the new bridge cuts many trips between residential and resort areas on the west to the commercial areas on the east by as much as an hour, though a traffic and revenue study puts time-savings as ranging between 23mins and 52mins for typical journeys.

The area is most famous for its pretty woods and its long windy shoreline for boating and fishing, but Gridley says the largest single attraction is now the Osage Beach Factory Outlet Mall, a collection of large box stores, that he says attracts hordes of visitors from all over the middle of America. The Lake is about midway between St Louis and Kansas City (2m pop both), 2 hours drive from each, but the area attracts weekend and vacation visitors from Texas, Iowa and further afield.

It has a permanent population of 70k but a summer population two to three times that. And the shopping mall has extended the busy season to 6 or 7 months from 5 months.

Guys fish, gals shop

“The saying is that the guys go fishing while the wives go shopping,” says Gridley.

The Ozarks bridge is owned and operated by the Lake of the Ozarks Community Bridge Corp, a not-for-profit corporation with a board of 7 appointed for 6 year terms by the Missouri state Highways Commission. The corp first raised bonds in 1996 at 6.6% but refinanced March this year raising $43m of 28-year, 22-year, and 16-year debt, all at 5.25%.

The bridge is 821m long with 11 welded steel plate girder spans of 75m each, set on piers ranging in height from 23m to 72m from the bottom of the lake. The piers are built wide enough to accomodate a doubling of the bridge spans and the deck to 2x2-lanes but only carry a single lane each direction for now — called a “two-on-four” bridge. The state contributed $6m to fund 6km (3.6mi) of approach roads, but the construction of bridge and roads was bid under a single contract. A large bite of the money raised is to cover a reserve fund to support the bridge in its early days, or to cover it during a recession.

Traffic and revenue consultants Wilbur Smith found a greater toll sensitivity in the winter months when the lower-income year round residents are the predominant patrons than in the summer when richer vacationers are the majority. They recommended the two-tier seasonal toll rate of $2.50 May-Sept and $1.50 Oct-Apr.

The bridge financing is based on a rapid projected rate of growth of average daily traffic, to 7k in 2000, to 34k in 2010 and 53k in 2018. If this rapid growth occurs the bridge would probably have its deck and toll plaza doubled in about 2006, Gridley says. The projections are sensitive to the progress of developments contemplated in a long tongue of land called Shawnee Bend which is especially advantaged by the bridge. Toll revenues are projected to grow from $1.2m in the first year to $3.3m in 2000 to $6.5m in 2010 to $8.9m in 2018.

Tolling is done both directions with 3 toll booths, one of which is 2-directional. Tolls are paid in cash except for people with prepaid accounts who are issued a magstripe card. They hand this to the toll attendant who swipes it to debit their account. Alltech, the Parsons Brinck sub, has a 5-year contract to collect the tolls. HNTB did the feasibility study and design and managed the construction. (Contact Larry Gridley 573 365 2374)