MoDOT

Last week, the Missouri Department of Transportation was focused on clearing the state’s roadways of snow and ice.  And before the week was up, crews began working to repair potholes.

The department’s state maintenance director, Natalie Roark, said in a news release that the freezing temperatures combined with the snow and ice this month have caused lots of potholes to form on Missouri’s highways.  Crews are working as hard as they can to fill potholes.  She asked motorists to be patient.

About nine miles of Glenstone Avenue are the target of a planned project by the Missouri Department of Transportation.  The proposed recommendations are for Glenstone from north of Valley Water Mill Street to James River Freeway.

They include complete signal rebuilds at Bennett, Cherry, Grand and St. Louis; signal modifications to benefit pedestrians, resurfacing the roadway, adding sidewalks, removing redundant driveways and eliminating left turns from certain side streets onto Glenstone.

Even through traffic volumes have dropped significantly this year because of COVID-19, roadway fatalities are up 12 percent in Missouri over last year.

According to the Missouri Department of Transportation, there have been 402 traffic fatalities so far this year—an increase of 43 over the same time last year.  And MODOT officials are especially concerned because the period between Memorial Day and Labor Day is one of the deadliest for motorists.

MODOT director, Patrick McKenna is asking drivers and passengers to wear their seatbelts, put their phones down and slow down. 

Traffic congestion is expected through Friday, October 4, at Highway 13 and Route O north of Springfield.

MODOT is working on a new J-turn at the intersection, which will replace the traffic signal there.  One northbound lane of 13 is closed, and drivers are urged to find alternate routes such as Highway 160, Route H and Route 65.

The work is expected to be finished by noon on Friday.

Once the work is finished, there will no longer be a traffic signal at the Highway 13 and Route O intersection.

Work starts this week on a project to improve safety at 10 intersections on Highway 13 between Springfield and Clinton. 

Contractor crews are scheduled to start the work at the Highway 13 intersection in Osceola.

The Missouri Department of Transportation has placed weight limits on the Long Creek Bridge over Table Rock Lake in Taney County.

The bridge, on Missouri Route 86, recently underwent an inspection, according to MODOT, which found deteriorating conditions that required immediate weight limits.

All vehicles will be limited to 25 tons.  According to MODOT, the legal maximum weight limit for vehicles in Missouri is 40 tons.

The bridge was built in 1956 and carries approximately 8700 vehicles a day.

A project to replace or rehabilitate 19 bridges along a 30-mile stretch of I-44 is expected to begin this spring.

Greg Chapman, the project manager, said the bridges, between Sarcoxie and Halltown, date to the early 1960s when I-44 was built.

"They were basically built between 1960 and 1964, so they're between 55 and 60-years-old.  They've pretty much served their life," he said.

National Traffic Incident Response Week is underway, and it goes through Saturday.  The Missouri Department of Transportation is partnering with other emergency response agencies to create awareness of the safety of responders working on the state’s roadways

Three MoDOT responders have been killed in the last ten years while responding to accidents, according to the organization. Other agencies, such as the Missouri Highway Patrol, have lost personnel for the same reason.  

More people than ever before are buckling up in Missouri.  The latest Missouri Seat Belt Usage Survey, which has been taken annually since 1998, shows 87.1 percent of Missourians use a safety belt, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation. That’s up from 60 percent when the survey started.  Seat belt usage is still below the national average of 89.7 percent. 

Jon Nelson, executive committee chair of the Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety said there’s been a 5.7 percent increase in usage in the past two years. He attributes that, in part, to educational efforts.

Meetings are planned in October to discuss several topics pertaining to Missouri’s transportation system.  The Missouri Department of Transportation will meet with planning partners in each of its seven districts.  They’ll discuss the current condition of the transportation system, how MODOT currently spends its funding and how best to use revenue from Proposition D if voters approve it on November 6.

The Missouri Department of Transportation will close Greene County Route H (N. Glenstone) tomorrow during funeral services for Aaron Roberts.  The 35-year-old Greene County deputy died last Friday during flash flooding north of Fair Grove.

Route H will be closed from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. tomorrow between McClernon and Valley Water Mill Rd.  Traffic will be diverted to nearby streets to get around the closure.  Drivers are urged to avoid the area.

A phone-in public meeting next week will allow McDonald County residents to ask questions about bridge work planned in their community.

The Missouri Department of Transportation plans to replace the Route KK bridge over Pine Creek at Missouri Route 90 at a cost of $830,000.  It plans to rehabilitate the Route U bridge over Star Hollow Creek five miles south of Missouri Route 76.

Next Tuesday, area residents can phone in and ask questions to MoDOT project experts from 3-6 p.m. by calling (417) 621-6310.

Bridge work in Laclede County this fall could mean lane closures and traffic delays on I-44.  MODOT plans to build a new I-44 Outer Road bridge over the Gasconade River west of Hazelgreen.  Work will begin next week.

The project includes building a new bridge on a new alignment between the existing Gasconade River Bridge, along Historic Route 66, and the I-44 bridges across the river. The existing bridge was closed to traffic in December 2014 due to extensive deterioration, according to MODOT.