MoDOT touring paving projects

~ The Smooth Roads Initiative is aimed at making 2,200 miles of highways smoother and safer by Dec. 31.

Missouri Department of Transportation bigwigs will hit the road over the next two months to see what has been accomplished with 12.8 million tons of asphalt.

Top officials of the department embarked on a "Seat of Your Pants" tour Monday to review how the Smooth Roads Initiative is working. The initiative, begun after the passage of Amendment 3 in 2004, is aimed at making 2,200 miles of Missouri highways smoother and safer by Dec. 31.

One-hundred-thirty-eight days before the deadline, projects are on schedule in Southeast Missouri, said Mark Shelton, district engineer at MoDOT's District 10 office in Sikeston.

"We will make the Dec. 31 deadline," Shelton said. "The governor challenged MoDOT to make that deadline, and we will meet it."

MoDOT engineers will inspect the roads included in the Smooth Roads Initiative, most of which were rated fair to poor at the beginning of 2005. By the time the work is done, all the roads should be graded good, the department said in a news release.

"We're looking for the same thing drivers look for -- smoother pavement, brighter stripes and better signs -- everything we promised we would deliver," MoDOT director Peter Rahn said in a prepared statement. "I call this trip the 'Seat of Your Pants' tour because we'll be judging the quality of these roads the same way drivers do -- by how smooth it feels on the seat of your pants."

The roads chosen for the initiative are among the state's busiest. Slightly more than 85 percent of Missourians live within 10 miles of at least one of the roads targeted for work.

In District 10, that has meant either a new asphalt surface or the application of a smoothing grinder to every mile of Interstate 55 from the Arkansas border to the Ste. Genevieve County line.

Some projects haven't begun, but drivers will see work crews soon, Shelton said. Work will begin on U.S. 61 -- East Jackson Boulevard in Jackson and Kingshighway in Cape Girardeau -- early next week, Shelton said.

Workers will close one section each evening at 6 p.m., then work for 12 hours grinding off the old pavement and replacing it with a new 1 1/2-inch layer of asphalt.

Another area project, resurfacing Route K -- William Street in Cape Girardeau -- from Kingshighway to Gordonville will take place in September or October, Shelton said. The Route K work will not be limited to nighttime construction, he said.

In all, according to figures supplied by the MoDOT central office, contractors will lay 12.8 million tons of asphalt. Typically, MoDOT puts down 3.5 million tons of asphalt over a two-year period.

Everything MoDOT does has been accelerated, Shelton said. "Frenzy doesn't adequately describe what we've done," he said.

Amendment 3, passed overwhelmingly in November 2004, moved about $180 million raised annually from automobile sales taxes and fuel taxes into the highway fund. Previously, the money had supported general state operations or specific activities of state government related to road issues.

Amendment 3 created a stream of revenue that made it possible for the state to issue $1.7 billion in road bonds which have financed the Smooth Roads Initiative as well as other accelerated road programs.

The tour will get most of the top MoDOT management out into the field, said Melissa Black, outreach coordinator for MoDOT. They will meet with district engineers, discuss the progress of the initiative and drive on the completed roads.

Where work is not complete, the officials will check work zones, time schedules and other issues to make sure the projects will be completed on time.

The distance, Black said, is equal to driving from Missouri to California.

"People don't think it sounds like much, but it is quite a lot of driving," she said.

Meeting the deadline is important for MoDOT because the agency has overpromised itself in the past. And quality pavement presents a good image for the state and is safer for drivers.

"This is truly an example of everybody seeing the vision of what needs to be done and moving in the same direction," Shelton said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126

---

Area roads undergoing work as a result of the Missouri Department of Transportation's Smooth Roads Initiative:

• Route K, Cape Girardeau County. Diamond grind and resurface with 1 3/4 inches of asphalt 6.6 miles from Highway 25 at Gordonville to Kingshighway. Work scheduled for September or October.
• Interstate 55, Cape Girardeau and Scott counties. Resurface pavement and shoulders with 3 3/4 inches of asphalt 15.6 miles from Fruitland to Scott City. Asphalt in place, striping and finish work to be done within a few days.
• U.S. 61, Cape Girardeau County. Mill, diamond grind and resurface with 1 3/4 inches of asphalt 11.3 miles from the highways 61/25/34 interchange in Jackson to South Kingshighway ramp onto Interstate 55. Work scheduled to begin by end of this week or early next week.
• I-55, Perry and Cape Girardeau counties. Diamond grind pavement and resurface shoulders with 1 3/4 inches of asphalt 34.1 miles from the Ste. Genevieve County line to Fruitland. Completed.
• Route K, Scott County. Mill and resurface with 1 3/4 inches of asphalt 2.6 miles from I-55 to Route N. Paving should be finished this week.
• I-55, Scott and New Madrid counties. Diamond grind pavement and fog seal shoulders for 40 miles from U.S. 62 to Scott City. Completed.
• U.S. 62, Scott County. Resurface with 1 3/4 inches of asphalt from I-55 to the U.S. 61/Highway 114 interchange. In progress.