Road shoulder requires repair work

The Missouri Department of Transportation doesn't want area motorists to get stuck in a rut.

MoDOT crews will spend much of today patching the worn asphalt shoulder of southbound Interstate 55 just north of the Diversion Channel bridge.

The shoulder has taken a pounding from all the traffic that's rolled over it for the past eight months as MoDOT continues to use it as a temporary driving lane while construction work proceeds on the Diversion Channel bridge.

Truck traffic has been a particular problem. MoDOT has encouraged truckers to use the one regular southbound driving lane that's open and leave the shoulder to car traffic. But truckers have largely ignored the advice.

"If we could keep the heavy trucks off of it that would really help the shoulder itself," said Jim Menz, MoDOT maintenance superintendent whose crew is scheduled to do the patching today on the 2,200-foot stretch of shoulder that serves as a temporary roadway.

The repair work will close the shoulder to traffic from 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., leaving a single lane for southbound traffic during that time.

Menz said he hopes there won't be a lot of traffic backups north of the Route AB interchange, but traffic delays of 15 to 20 minutes are possible.

The work is scheduled to miss both the morning and evening rush hours in an effort to keep traffic delays to a minimum, he said.

Weather permitting

A morning snow shower late last month delayed the start of the project.

But Menz said today's forecast is for dry weather, which is needed for the repair work. "We are just going to do some hand patching and try to get the ruts filled up," he said.

Within a few weeks, MoDOT crews hope to repave the shoulder with a layer of asphalt, he said.

MoDOT decided last May to use the shoulder as a temporary driving lane to ease traffic congestion caused by Diversion Channel construction work and made worse by flooding and construction of a levee at Dutchtown that closed portions of highways 74 and 25.

Although floodwaters have receded, the shoulder continues to be used as a driving lane while construction continues on the Diversion Channel bridge. The bridge project is scheduled to be completed by October.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123