By AP/KWMU
Camdenton, MO – The Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission is expected to approve today (Wednesday) what apparently will be a model project nationally: A hybrid of normal two-lane and four-lane roads in which a passing lane will alternate every mile or so between the north and south lanes.
The $50 million experiment is planned for a 16-mile stretch of Missouri Highway 5 between Lebanon and Camdenton in southwest Missouri. The highway is a twisting and sometimes slender two-lane road that connects Interstate 44 to the Lake of the Ozarks.
The concept of a continuously alternating passing lane has been used for years in parts of Europe, which is where Missouri's chief highway engineer came up with the idea. But it's so new in the United States that transportation officials haven't even agreed on what to call it.