Conceptual Interchange Study - U.S. Route 54 at Missouri Route 5 in Camdenton
The U.S. Route 54 corridor has been upgraded to an expressway through the Lake of the Ozarks area over the past 15 years, resulting the removal of all traffic signals between Kingdom City and Camdenton. Two signals at Laker Pride Road and Cecil Street are the only remaining signals between Kingdom City and Missouri Route 5, causing bottlenecks resulting in increased congestion and roadway crashes.
A conceptual interchange study was conducted in 2025 for the Missouri Department of Transportation by engineers at CBB Transportation Engineers & Planners to identify and examine alternatives to improve the short and long-term safety and traffic operations.
Study Area
The study area encompasses U.S. Route 54 between Cecil Street and Business Route 5, as well as Missouri Route 5 between Business Route 5 and Missouri Route 7.
Crash Statistics
The study found 483 crashes occurred along U.S. Route 54 in the study area from 2019 to 2023. This graphic shows the concentration of crashes through the corridor.
The study found 483 crashes occurred along U.S. Route 54 in the study area from 2019 to 2023. This graph breaks down the type of crash, as reported by law enforcement.
Study Recommendation and Next Steps
This project is an Unfunded Road and Bridge Need and is currently on Tier 3 of MoDOT's High Priority Unfunded Needs list, Tier 3, as published in October 2025.
The study considered several preliminary concepts, narrowed the concepts to an Expressway and a Boulevard concept and conducted a more in-depth analysis on both. Of those two concepts, the Boulevard concept was shown to best address the project's safety and operational (traffic flow) needs and the study team noted the project could be built in two phases.
- Phase 1 would widen U.S. Route 54 between the northbound Missouri Route 5 ramps and Laker Pride/Jack Crowell Road at an estimated cost of $4.5 million.
- Phase 2 would relocate Laker Pride Road, install U-turn movements at Jack Crowell Road and Cecil Street, and widen U.S. Route 54 between Jack Crowell Road Cecil Street at an estimated cost of $11 million.
To address westbound congestion at Route 5, MoDOT asked the study consultant to develop a Phase 1A - building a part of Phase 1 if only a portion of the estimated $4.5 million for Phase 1 became available. The consultant's Phase 1A graphic is linked at right, including adding a westbound auxiliary lane from north of Jack Crowell Road to the northbound Missouri Route 5 on-ramp. The estimated cost of Phase 1A is approximately $2 million.