A steady stream of traffic rolls along Mount Auburn Road, which increasingly looks more like a freeway than the lonely rural route it once was.

Work began this week to widen four-lane Mount Auburn to provide a left turn lane in the road's center that extends from William to Independence streets. The work will ultimately place traffic lights at the Mount Auburn-Independence intersection.

City officials say the project should improve traffic flow and safety on the heavily traveled north-south road.

But the $377,579 project -- funded with transportation sales tax dollars -- will mean major congestion along that stretch of Mount Auburn during construction, say operators of businesses in that area.

"Anybody who has an entrance on that road is going to be affected by it," said Dan Drury, president of Mid-America Hotels Corp., which has offices on Mount Auburn and owns a Burger King at the William-Mount Auburn intersection.

But Drury said businesses and their customers will have to live with it.

"That is the price of progress," he said.

Going with the flow

City officials and businessmen said adding a turn lane and installing traffic signals will improve traffic flow.

The city in December hired Lappe Cement Finishing Inc. of Perryville, Mo., to do the construction work. But winter storms delayed the start of the project until this week.

City officials and the contractor didn't want construction to get started and then have to halt it repeatedly because of snow storms.

Work began Monday on the east side of Mount Auburn in front of temporarily closed-off Gordonville Road near St. Francis Medical Center.

The work has reduced northbound traffic to one lane on Mount Auburn Road just north of the William Street intersection, but cars were still moving through the constricted area on Tuesday.

Gertis said the city plans to keep Mount Auburn open throughout construction. "We don't plan on closing Mount Auburn at all," she said.

Mark Lester, city engineer, said the project should be finished by October. As part of the project, traffic may be restricted on a frontage road that parallels William in front of the Burger King restaurant.

City officials had proposed closing the Mount Auburn entrance to the frontage road, which serves a number of businesses including Burger King, Pear Tree Inn, Amoco and The Great Wall restaurant.

But Lester said the city now plans to keep the frontage entrance open, but restrict it to right-turn traffic only.

Independence Street recently was extended from Mount Auburn to Farrar Drive. But Lester said the city doesn't want to open the new stretch of Independence until the traffic signals are installed at the Mount Auburn and Independence intersection. That work should be done by October along with the rest of the project.

The stretch of Mount Auburn that is being modified carries an average of 16,150 vehicles a day, city officials said. By comparison, 17,910 vehicles a day travel on Broadway at the Kingshighway intersection.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123