Bagnell Dam Boulevard Upgrades! Lake Ozark Planning Major Road Improvements In 2024

LAKE OZARK, Mo. — Riddled with potholes and patches, Bagnell Dam Boulevard has long been a lament of drivers at the Lake (especially motorcyclists). But this year the city will bring much-needed improvements to the roadway.

Bagnell Dam Blvd bad spots-3.jpg — Tegan Pasley

With an estimated 2.5 million visitors year-round and Lake of the Ozarks continually growing, the roads are in need of frequent upkeep, especially the heavily trafficked Bagnell Dam Blvd.

"While I know what we would like to see done, really a lot of it comes down to labor availability and timing," said Lake Ozark City Administrator Harrison Fry. "We don't want to tear a road open in the middle of summertime when it's at highest traffic." As a result, the city hopes to get a good stretch of the boulevard rebuilt before the busy summer season.

Fry said the City is currently working on contracts for a few projects this year.

"We prioritized projects based on existing road conditions, traffic volumes, and the ability to perform regular preventative maintenance on roads so that they don't deteriorate as they have done in the past," Fry said. "The entirety of Bagnell Dam Boulevard should have a new driving surface by 2025, with two-thirds of the work being performed this year."

2024 Lake Ozark Road Projects

Lake Ozark Map - Bagnell Dam Blvd Improvement Projects — created by Tegan Pasley

1. Bagnell Dam Blvd - Surface Reconstruction

The construction contract is going before the Board of Alderman in January. Workers will reconstruct the surface of the roadway from School Road to the MM Overpass over three weeks or less. Fry said this project ideally has minimal impact on tourist traffic patterns.

Bagnell Dam Blvd bad spots-1.jpg — Tegan Pasley

2. Bagnell Dam Strip - Cape Seal

This seal will include a smoother surface with increased durability from Bagnell Dam to School Road. The Board of Alderman will consider the engineering bid and contract in January. Fry said the goal is to perform the work during a time of year that doesn't impact tourist traffic patterns, so either the spring or fall once the design work and construction company is established.

This is expected to take three weeks with two phases that must be performed with a gap between them.

Bagnell Dam Blvd bad spots-4.jpg — Tegan Pasley

3. Lighthouse Road - Reconstruction

The design phase is currently being finished with construction bidding set to begin soon. Once the labor is secured, the project timeline will be established, but it likely will happen in the late summer or fall of this year.

4. Southwest Neighborhoods - Micropaving

Fry said roads in the southwest part of Lake Ozark will get some preventative maintenance. Although the project is not yet accepting design or construction bids, it is expected to occur over the summer or into the fall.

The City has budgeted $175,000 for road improvements and $75,000 for routine street maintenance through the 2024 Transportation Fund, which supports salaries, work space, equipment for the street department, general maintenance like snow removal, and actual road improvement projects.

In 2021 and 2022, Lake Ozark spent no money on road improvements.

In 2022 however, voters approved an amendment to the Capital Improvements Tax, allowing it to be used for water and road improvements in addition to sewer improvements. Although this is not accounted for in the Transportation Fund, Fry said it was important to recognize what the amendment did in 2023 and how it will help for what's planned in 2024:

- 2023 Revenues: $4,958

- 2024: $2.48 million, from two debt issuances. The annual payment for the road improvement portion of this is approximately $320,000 over a ten-year period.

Lake Ozark says it can afford those payments thanks to belt-tightening measures that have created significant savings in the budget.

The newest waste contract with GFL, for example, went into effect in March of 2023. To date, that contract has collected $10,288 in revenue, which has gone into the Transportation Fund.

The biggest single move was the outsourcing of police dispatch services. Fry pointed to the city's recently-struck multi-year contract with Miller County for police dispatching services. That agreement represents approximately $250,000 in annual savings to Lake Ozark's General Fund, Fry said.

Thanks to those and other budget moves, city officials say they were able to obtain the $2.48 million loan to rebuild some of Lake Ozark's most critical roads this year.

Bagnell Dam Blvd bad spots-2.jpg — Tegan Pasley

For more information on this topic, review Lake Ozark's Capital Improvement Plan, which includes cost estimates, timelines, and broad scopes of work.