About four times a year, Ted Stephenson repairs the fence on his property along Columbia's Rock Quarry Road.
The reason? Drivers often lose control of their vehicles and crash into it.
Rock Quarry Road is a snaky street that extends more than four miles from Stadium Boulevard to Route 163 — but it’s the northern portion of the road, a 1.7-mile stretch between Stadium Boulevard and Grindstone Parkway, that is considered one of Columbia’s most scenic and dangerous roadways.
Although it provides picturesque views of the neighboring nature preserves, the road is notorious to Columbia residents for being dangerous to drive on.
In the last five years, 358 total accidents have occurred on Rock Quarry Road, according to emergency response calls to Boone County Joint Communications. Stephenson, whose property runs along Rock Quarry Road just north of Grindstone Parkway, estimates that 40 or 50 accidents have occurred near his property alone.
There is a 10-inch drop-off on the side of the road next to Stephenson’s property. There is no shoulder, so once a driver veers off the road, it is “impossible to correct,” said Stephenson, whose family has owned five acres of farmland along Rock Quarry Road for about 60 years.
Stephenson said a city official brushed off his concerns, telling him that there shouldn’t be issues along his property because the road in that section is straight. He, along with other Rock Quarry residents, have brought their concerns about the road to the Columbia City Council, asking councilors to upgrade the road with curbs, gutters or guardrails to prevent future incidents.
Rock Quarry Road is in Columbia’s Sixth Ward, which is overseen by Councilor Betsy Peters. When asked if she was concerned about the large number of incidents on the road, Peters said, “I think people need to be aware that it’s a scenic roadway, and it’s not very straight. I’m not sure I can fix how people drive.”
Peters facilitated a conversation between Stephenson and Columbia Public Works Director Shane Creech. In an email, Creech said, “In regards to Mr. Stephenson’s property, due to the width of Rock Quarry Road in this location and the roadside conditions, it does not appear that would warrant the installation of a guardrail. It would be much safer for a vehicle to come to rest in Mr. Stephenson’s property.”
John Martin, 26, died in a motorcycle accident on Stephenson’s property in October 2023. Martin’s family and friends placed a memorial cross on the property.
“How would you like to be a parent, which I’m not, and receive a phone call between ten (p.m.) and two in the morning and saying, ‘This is Columbia Police, we’d like to tell you that your child or spouse or relative is in the hospital and has had an accident?’” Stephenson said. “That basically happens two or three times a year just in front of my property.”
At a pre-council meeting Dec. 18, 2023, a presentation was given about the Capital Improvement Program Sales Tax 10-Year Renewal. During that presentation, 18 roads were identified for potential improvements, with Rock Quarry listed fifth.
Peters later removed Rock Quarry from the finalized project list, saying her decision boiled down to two main reasons: high expense and maintaining scenic views.
The estimated cost to redo Rock Quarry Road was more than $13 million, out of a total budget for street and sidewalk projects of almost $82 million. Redoing Rock Quarry Road was intended to straighten and repave the road, including adding guard rails, Peters said.
“We didn’t think it was appropriate to spend that amount of money out of one small, sort of short segment of street,” Peters said.
Rock Quarry Road has had many over-pavements, but Stephenson claims that these only make the street more dangerous. He said that the additional pavement only serves to increase the amount a car will fall if it goes off-road.
“If council wants to direct us to work on Rock Quarry Road, we can. It’s just a matter of direction from council,” Jacob Ray, the Public Works traffic engineering supervisor, said.
There are no current initiatives in the capital improvement project list to do any upgrades on Rock Quarry Road. Peters said that the council is “always taking strides” to improve Rock Quarry Road and that the issue will most likely show up in a council agenda in the next six months.
