Route 76 Along Lake Taneycomo Closes This Winter. The Bank Under It Has Been Giving Way Since 2019.

"The project kind of started a few years ago with all of the failures we've had along Lake Taneycomo," MoDOT project engineer Bud Sherman told KY3 in August 2025.

That failure is now on the calendar. Starting in January 2027, Missouri Route 76 will be fully closed between the Business 65 roundabout at Branson Landing Boulevard and Lake Shore Drive in Hollister for up to 120 days. MoDOT expects to finish in May 2027. About 14,400 vehicles use that stretch on a typical day.

The work was first set to start in August 2026. MoDOT pushed it back to January 2027 and said the change "will help the contractor reduce traffic disruptions and lessen the impact on the traveling public." So the closure moved out of peak summer and into the winter months, when the drivers on this road are mostly people who live and work here.

Why a Rock Patch Was Never Going to Hold

This is the permanent repair for a problem that keeps coming back. In October 2019, heavy rain sent the roadside down the bank toward Lake Taneycomo near the Business 65 roundabout. The pavement held, but the slide damaged power poles. MoDOT closed the segment until geologists and engineers could judge whether the ground was stable. The agency said the road would stay closed until crews could stabilize the bank with rock. It reopened on Saturday afternoon, October 12.

When Sherman spoke to KY3, he said rock alone wouldn't be enough this time. "There's some water on the bluff side that's undermining the roadway and causing the blowouts to go out," he said. "We also have some karst area, some cave-like features that are underneath that road. We've actually lost a lot of the rock. It flushes in there."

That explains what MoDOT plans to build. According to the project page, crews will:

• Stabilize the embankment between the Branson Landing Boulevard roundabout and Lake Shore Drive
• Reconstruct the Route 76 roadway
• Remove and replace 1,200 feet of roadway base
• Install a concrete drainage ditch on the east side of the road, against the rock bluff

The ditch deals with the water coming off the bluff. The new base deals with the rock that has been washing into the voids underneath. Both jobs require taking the road down to its foundation, which is why it has to close completely instead of running one lane at a time.

A Branson Globe photo from the 2025 public meeting shows the stretch from above. Photographer Gary J. Groman's caption explains that a band of white rock marks where earlier slides washed out the highway, and that this is the area the repair will focus on.

The Schedule as It Stands Today

Most of the timeline is set. One date is still missing.

1. August 12, 2025. MoDOT held its first public meeting, a come-and-go open house at First Presbyterian Church, 420 W. Main St. in Branson.
2. August 17, 2026. MoDOT announced the move from August 2026 to January 2027 and named KCI Construction Company of St. Louis as the contractor.
3. Fall or winter 2026, date not yet set. A second public meeting will be held before construction starts to go over the schedule, the work plan, and expected traffic impacts. As of early October, the project page still lists it as "TBA."
4. January 2027. Construction begins and the closure starts.
5. May 2027. Scheduled completion.

MoDOT gives two cost figures. The August 2026 release puts estimated construction cost at $6.7 million. The project page lists $7.3 million as estimated total cost. The labels measure different things, and the release is the more recent of the two.

Boaters can relax about one thing. MoDOT says the project will not affect marine traffic on Lake Taneycomo.

What the Detour Means for Your Week

The official detour uses Route 76, Coon Creek Road, and Taney County Route BB. MoDOT hasn't published how many miles or minutes it adds.

The only real-world estimate so far comes from two local drivers. They drive this part of 76 almost every day. In 2025 they told the Branson Globe that the repair fixes a dangerous situation, but that the detour would nearly double the time and mileage of their trips into Hollister and Branson. They also raised concerns about the start date and about keeping the detour roads in safe shape for the extra traffic. Since then, the start date has moved once, from August to January. The upkeep of the detour roads is still an open question.

Your own added drive depends on where you start and where you're going. If you regularly cross between Hollister and the Branson Landing side, plan to spend January through spring on a longer route.

The Bridge That Came Up at the Same Meeting

The 2025 meeting also brought out a concern about a different structure. Resident Josh Smith asked KY3 why the concrete bridge over Coon Creek isn't part of the job.

"It was built in the 1950's. By MoDOT's own numbers about 15,000 cars a day go across it. It was not built for heavy trucks and commercial traffic that it deals with."

Smith argued that fixing both at once would avoid a second long closure later. Sherman answered that bridge replacements run on their own schedule. "Right now, it's not critical," he said. "We do inspect it very regularly to make sure it's safe."

In October 2025, MoDOT posted a weight limit on the Route 76 bridge over Coon Creek: 20 tons for single-unit vehicles and 40 tons for tractor-trailers. The 1953 bridge is rated fair, and the limit stays until the bridge is replaced. This is a separate issue from the slide repair. The posting is mostly useful for anyone whose work involves heavy trucks.

Meanwhile, on the Other End of 76

West 76 Country Boulevard in Branson has its own set of projects coming. All three are early in the process.

These projects run on a much longer timeline than the Hollister repair. One component of the streetscape contract allows 609 calendar days from the order to proceed. That's about five times as long as MoDOT's 120-day closure window.

The streetscape follows earlier work. In July 2022, the city celebrated the completion of Segment 3, which ran from the Ferris Wheel to Presley's Country Jubilee and was paid for by the infrastructure tourism tax and the 76 Entertainment Community District. At the time, Public Works and Engineering Director Keith Francis called it an early milestone and said more W. 76 work was planned. Segments 1 and 2 are the next phase. The current bid documents don't say how they will be funded or when lanes will close.

What to Watch for Between Now and January

The most useful date still to come is MoDOT's pre-construction public meeting. That's where the agency has said it will cover the schedule, the roadwork, and expected traffic impacts. You can sign up for email updates on the MoDOT project page to get the meeting date when it's announced. On the Branson side, the October 14 bid opening for the Highway 165 intersection is the next step that could bring a contractor and a timeline for that corner.

If you're weighing the timing of a sale or purchase on either side of Lake Taneycomo while 76 is closed, Emily Durgan is glad to talk through how the closure and the detour fit into your plans. Let's Connect.