Ask the Road Crew about broken traffic signals or highway construction, 1 p.m.

Ask the Road Crew about broken traffic signals or highway construction, 1 p.m.

Ask the experts from the Missouri Department of Transportation, St. Louis and St. Charles counties and St. Louis City your questions about highways and roads. The live chat starts at 1 p.m. on Wednesday.

    Going south on 109 and then using the Roundabout (two lane) to go east on 100. The lane markings have you entering the Roundabout in the left lane and switching to the right line in the middle of the Roundabout. When the drivers coming north on 109 see you in the left lane (before your switch to the right lane for entering 100 east), they begin entering the Roundabout. This is Dangerous. Is this really the Plan?
    That is the way that that type of roundabout works -- you need the two lanes to handle the heavy levels of traffic through there.  The outside lane (on the right) goes through to 109.  The inside light (on the left) takes you past 109 to 100, which you get to by merging to the right.  Otherwise, the only benefit you would get for the inside lane would be for people making a U-turn.  Drivers entering the roundabout are supposed to yield to ALL traffic in the roundabout, not just in their lane - Drivers entering from 109 or 100 should expect traffic to merge over into the outside lane. The signs, and the roadway markings help guide people through the roundabout.  This type of traffic control helps move the varying volumes of traffic between Route 109 and Route 100 much more effectively than a signal would.  Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
    I am writing regarding the road conditions on Midland Blvd, between Woodson Road and Lindbergh. When will they start work on repaving this road. I was told last year that it would be the beginning of this year.
    Our contractor is scheduled to begin work on this project in early November. David Wrone, St. Louis County's Department of Transportation
    Can you take a look at the SB 270 ramp to MO 21? It does not seem to take the amount of ramp traffic queued as it cycles. I noticed this last Thursday at about 7pm.
    I have shared that with our traffic team to take a look at.  Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
    Dave, I'm reporting a stop sign concern at the offset intersections of Siebert Avenue with Hildesheim Avenue in unincorporated Affton. Siebert is a continuous street that intersections Hildesheim in two places, one intersection is slightly northwest of the others. For at least 30 years, there has been a three-way stop sign for the northernmost leg of the intersection of Siebert and Hildesheim, while the southernmost leg had a one-way stop sign for Hildesheim only. That intersection stopped Hildesheim and traffic on Siebert didn't have to stop until it proceeded to the second leg of it's intersection with Hildesheim. In the last year, the county added an "ALL-WAY" placard to the stop sign at Hildesheim, which indicates that the intersection which once was two separate intersections with a three-way stop and a subordinate one-way stop, is now one intersection with four-way, or all-way, stop signs. The problem is that when the ALL-WAY placard was added, white stop line striping and an additional stop sign were not added for Seibert. A driver on the southernmost leg of Hildesheim will think that Siebert traffic needs to stop. However, drivers on Siebert have no indication that they need to stop at both legs of Siebert. Last year, I talked to a traffic engineer with County DOT about the intersection. As we spoke, he viewed the intersection using Google Earth and agreed that it was a mistake and made for an unsafe condition. The situation has never been corrected. Thank you.
    I'll forward this to our Operations group immediately. Thank you for bringing it to our attention. David Wrone, St. Louis County's Department of Transportation
    For County Highways Dept.
    Several years ago there were plans to widen and improve Old State Rd from roughly Pierside to 109.
    Is this project still planned? and if so, what might be the timeline for it.
    While the majority of it seems fairly safe, there have been more and more accidents in the area from the new county park heading down the hill towards 109, which might want the county to consider moving up any timelines for the improvements.
    We currently have no projects scheduled for this section of Old State Road. David Wrone, St. Louis County's Department of Transportation
    Thank you so much for doing these. Modot does good work and it is beneficial for you to “face the music” and take inquiry from drivers who have concerns, when maybe things have gone awry.

    Can you give an update on the sidewalk construction on Manchester between Rock Hill Road and Lindbergh? There was a lot of progress over the summer but it seems like work has stalled. Was this a planned interruption or did something cause it? Also It seems like the power lines are an impediment to both the roadway and the new sidewalk - can modot make a determination to move those lines underground, for traffic and pedestrian safety reasons? Finally, Any idea on anticipated completion?
  • Work continues along the Manchester Road project between Big Bend and Lindbergh -- late this summer  a lot of the contractor's focus on this project was in getting the bridge at Black Creek reopened to traffic -- there were some design delays, compounded by delays due to the flooding along Black Creek during those heavy rain storms.  Crews will continue working along the corridor for about the next year, before the sidewalk project is complete.  Once that work is complete, crews will resurface the roadway along the corridor.  Locations of utilities (such as power lines) are the purview of the utility company -- you would have to discuss your concerns with them. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
    The newly installed digital billboard along Page in the Carol House parking lot is VERY BRIGHT at night. Can that thing be dialed down a bit? Seems that is quite the distraction/hazard. Its so bright you can barely even read it!
    We can ask our people overseeing billboards to take a look at it, and see if they can work with the owner to reduce the distractions.  Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
    The traffic signal facing the wrong direction (that I reported last week) - on the NE corner of Watson/Creighton/entrance to the Value City/Dollar Tree plaza - is still so (as of last night): this has the potential to cause a very bad accident, if a confused or inattentive driver exits the plaza while Watson has a green.
    I've reached out to the team to see if I get any insight on the progress of this.  If I get anything back, I'll share it.  Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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