MoDOT: $3 million Highway 34 project starts in '13

MARBLE HILL, Mo. -- Bollinger County residents who live on Highway 34 west of Glenallen have known for some time that the Missouri Department of Transportation plans to widen the road and straighten some curves. Those who came to the public hearing Thursday afternoon at Woodland School were more interested in when the project would start and when MoDOT would notify them about buying easements.

Project manager Eric Krapf said the actual construction will begin in 2013.

"We'll begin acquiring right of way sometime this summer," Krapf said.

The project will start at County Road 500 and head west to County Road 808. In between, two major curves will be straightened, one at County Road 504 and the other a sharp curve farther west. The rest of the work will consist mostly of widening and resurfacing existing road. It is expected to cost bout $3 million.

"The road will still have two lanes," Krapf said. "We have 10 or 11 lanes now with a two-foot shoulder, and in some areas no shoulder at all. When we're done, we'll have 11-foot lanes with four-foot paved shoulders."

The section of highway is known for the number of people who have been killed in accidents along it.

"I haven't talked to anyone who has any complaints about this improvement," Krapf said.

Pertinent address:

Glenallen, MO