Bollinger County residents tell MoDOT, representatives they want roads fixed soon

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- About 50 Bollinger County residents, many of whom signed nearly 60 pages of petitions asking for state attention to the unsafe conditions of highways 34 and 51, crowded into the meeting room at the Bollinger County Library on Friday morning to tell the Missouri Department of Transportation, U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson and state Rep. Shelley Keeney their concerns about the safety of the roads. They also told them of their frustrations with what they say is a lack of attention from those who control the purse strings.

Emerson set up the meeting after receiving a letter from Marble Hill student Brittany Holmes, who wrote to her, Keeney and other legislators saying she was tired of seeing her friends die in accidents on these two roads. Holmes attended Friday's meeting and said she thought it was "a start."

Other Bollinger County residents thought the meeting was more of the same empty promises they say they've heard for the past 20 years or more. The twin bridges by Bollinger Mill on Highway 34 were brought up; MoDOT promised 20 years ago to replace them.

MoDOT district engineer Mark Shelton told the group that work will begin this spring on Highway 34, straightening curves, adding shoulders and repaving the deep potholes at the intersection of 34 and 51 on the Lutesville, Mo., side of Marble Hill.

Long-term plans for Highway 51, Shelton said, will include adding shoulders from Marble Hill to Highway 72, adding rumble strips and center stripes and widening the lanes.

"We need to identify funding for that. We need to work with whoever we can figure out to get it paid for," Shelton said.

On a more immediate level, he said, within the next 60 days, drivers along Highway 51 will see new signs along the road identifying sharp curves that lie ahead and advising motorists to slow down to 35 mph. A reflective strip will be added to the post of each new sign and existing signs to make them more visible in the dark.

"That's all we can do now," he said. "While we're doing that we could work with anybody who wants to help us figure out how we can put together the funding we need to do the shoulder work."

He estimates the cost of doing that long-term work at $2.4 million. Highway 51 is a priority, Shelton said, but he could not say when the work would happen.

Marble Hill Mayor Russell Masterson said that while he is glad to hear Highway 34 will be repaved this year, he questioned the wisdom of spending money to put blacktop at highways 51 and 34 because it doesn't last. MODOT plans to use blacktop for cost reasons, Shelton said.

He added that the twin bridges near Burfordville are scheduled to be replaced in 2012.

Shelton promised to drive around Bollinger County and look at the problem areas people mentioned. He assured the group MoDOT is not favoring any one county over another. Extra federal funds, Emerson said, get held up in one branch of Congress or another.

This year, she said, the House passed a bill that would have provided an extra $250 million in federal money, but the bill died in the Senate.