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MoDOT Commits to Additional Maintenance and Design Work as a Result of SOS Efforts January 4, 2010 by Dianne Sudbrock
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The Missouri Department of
Transportation has committed to some immediate maintenance efforts and to
continuing design work so that, if and when funding becomes available, shoulders
could be added to specific lettered highways in southwestern At a meeting of the Missouri
Highways and Transportation Commission in St. Charles on December 2, 2010,
Kevin Keith, MoDOT’s Chief Engineer in Jefferson City, agreed to look at what
improvements could be done immediately as maintenance work, and to begin to
develop a plan for addressing the need for shoulders on Routes D, DD, F, N, Z
and 94. Over 25 people bearing SOS
T-shirts attended the Dec. 2 meeting and three people from the group addressed
the commission. In addition, St. Charles County Councilman Joe Brazil and He said, “Let’s get a game
plan together, working with these people, to quantify the needs, determine the
costs, and develop an action plan.” On December 18, 2010, following
up on Keith’s commitment, MoDOT Area Engineer, Jim Gremaud, provided SOS with a
tentative plan for work on the two-lane lettered routes in this area. Gremaud
asked the SOS group to review the plans and order of activity and let him know
if they felt any of the priorities should be changed. SOS was scheduled to meet
with MoDOT on The initial proposed schedule
of activities from MoDOT is as follows: Maintenance Projects: Beginning in early January,
weather permitting, MoDOT will begin filling edge ruts and edge drop offs with
aggregate (a crushed rock mixture) and cold asphalt millings. This work
is NOT building shoulders. It is a maintenance effort. It will be
accomplished by trucking material to the work site and putting it into a
machine that will place the material along the pavement edge at select
locations. MoDOT expects to have 10 or so trucks hauling material so the
operation can move fairly quickly down the road.
The materials used will come
from stockpiles at various MoDOT locations which are typically used for this
purpose. The work will continue as weather allows into February and possibly
March. One lane of the lettered routes will be closed during these operations
and flaggers will stop traffic and direct vehicles through the work area. Lanes
will generally only be closed between
The Boone Country Connection is published by The Write Design, 1734 Schnarre Road Foristell, MO 63348
Dianne Sudbrock, Editor and Publisher 636-332-3050 boonecc@centurytel.net
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Randy Frump presents at the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission Meeting
Tentative plans are to begin
on Route D between Route 94 and Route Z. Once that work is complete, the plan
is for crews to move to Route DD, then Route Z, Route N east of Route Z, Route
94 south to Route T, and then Route F.
Design efforts to widen driving lanes and
construct paved shoulders: In addition to the maintenance
effort identified above, MoDOT is continuing design efforts so more permanent
improvements can be made. When these more permanent improvements will be
implemented depends almost exclusively on if and when construction funding
becomes available. Tentative plans include:
The tentative schedule is to finish design work on Route D from Route 94 to Route DD and on Route DD from
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In addition, design work to
add shoulders on Route 94 from South of Francis Howell High School to These commitments from MoDOT
can be largely attributed to the awareness raising efforts of the SOS
(Shoulders fOf Safety) citizens group and support from The SOS group organized a town
hall meeting in New Melle on October 18 which featured a panel of state and
local political representatives, officials from MoDOT and law enforcement
agencies. Over 350 people attended and petitions bearing over 2400 signatures
were presented to Senator Scott Rupp asking for support of funding for
shoulders. On October 8, County
Councilman Steve Ehlmann had requested that MoDOT move up the scheduled
addition of shoulders on Hwy. DD from I-64 to Frontier middle school. In early
November, MoDOT agreed to move up construction by about a year. That project
will now begin in spring 2010 and be completed by year end. Since the October town hall
meeting, SOS representatives have remained in regular contact with MoDOT
officials as well as local, state and federal elected representatives, and have
attended various public meetings handing out information and pleading their
cause. Representatives from the group attended a meeting and later spoke
informally with members of the East West Gateway Coordinating Council, which
determines which state highway construction projects receive funding in the
greater The group has also garnered a
commitment from Fred Weber, Inc. to provide some of the materials needed to
help offset construction costs; and similar support is being sought from
LaFarge, Inc. which operates the quarry on Hwy. DD. To help raise awareness, the
group is selling T-shirts and car magnets to anyone interested in supporting
their cause. SOS car magnets are available through January 11 at Double D
Market at Highways D and DD, For more information on SOS, visit ShouldersfOrSafety.org,
Email: shouldersforsafety@yahoo.com or write to: Shoulders fOr Safety,
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