HERMANN — The city of Hermann’s bid to have a pair of flood-control projects on Highway 100 included in the state’s next Transportation Improvement Plan (TIP) fell short earlier this month with a regional advisory panel dropping the projects to the bottom of the Meramec Region’s high-priority list.

A proposal to raise Highway 100 along the bluffs on the eastern edge of town and near the Hermann Fire Company station adjacent to Frene Creek near the intersection with Highway 19 was the second-highest project on the TIP prepared in October by the Gasconade County Commission. The Meramec Regional Planning Commission’s Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC), comprised of three members from each of the eight counties within the Meramec Region, met earlier this month to craft a region-wide TIP to submit to the planning commission’s Board of Directors.

That panel will forward a final version of the region’s priority list to the Missouri Department of Transportation for consideration of inclusion into the next version of Missouri’s five-year State TIP.

There are two other Gasconade County projects included on the list of 32 total projects — a proposed turn lane on Highway 19 in Owensville to ease congestion at Industrial Drive and at the entrances to the campus of Gasconade County R-2 School District and a proposed realignment of the intersection of Highway 100 and Route J six miles west of Hermann.

The turn lane project was rated by the TAC at Number 12 and the intersection project at Number 14. Both projects are in the TAC’s Medium Priority group of projects.

The proposed flood-control projects on Highway 100 were combined into a single project for purposes of submitting them for TAC consideration. Voting by TAC members on the various projects offered by all eight counties resulted in the flood-control project being tied with a Washington County bridge project at Number 9 — the last slot of the 10-project High Priority group.

Meanwhile, Hermann City Hall is awaiting more detailed flood-control proposals from the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency and the Federal Emergency Management Agency after an initial meeting several weeks ago. Offered during that session as possible flood-control measures were a mile-long flood wall from the bluffs back to Riverfront Park protecting the highway and the installation of a floodgate to keep rising Missouri River water out of Frene Creek to prevent flooding along the creek that affects downtown traffic and businesses near the creek.

The Number 1 High-Priority transit project in the Meramec Region is construction of a bridge over Crooked Creek in Dent County. The crossing now is via a culvert that needs to be replaced. A low-water span is not practical, according to regional planners, because of debris concerns along Crooked Creek. The bridge has a 2015 estimated price tag of $1.2 million.

The High-Priority projects, in the order determined by the TAC, are: Number 2 – improvements at the interchange of Highway V and Interstate 44 and the outer road in Phelps County; Number 3 – a turn lane on Highway 19 at the intersection of Lindburg Road in Crawford County; Number 4 – safety improvements at the intersection of highways E and 63 in Osage County; Number 5 – improvements near the Vichy Airport at the intersection of highways 63 and 28 in Maries County; (Tie) Number 7 – a bridge on Highway 19 over Cherry Valley Branch in Crawford County and Number 7 – safety improvements at the intersection of highways 42 and 133 in Maries County; (Tie) Number 9 – replacement of a bridge deemed to be in serious condition on Highway A in Washington County and Number 9 – the raising of two sections of Highway 100 in Hermann to prevent flooding.