Ask the Road Crew your highway construction and stoplight questions, 1 p.m. Wednesday
Ask the Road Crew, 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.
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I-44 from Lafayette to Kingshighway pavement has got to be the roughest ride on Missouri interstate! The new ashphalt helps but the new concrete and bridges ride is horrible. What is being done to prevent unqualified contractors like Kozeny Wagner from bidding on these type of projects? -
First of all, the project isn't complete, and all contractors are required to meet set standards (that are overseen by the dpartment) on all projects.. However, the "uneven pavement" was a part of the construction process, to give a better, final product. Since there was a lot of traffic shifting that would have various lane markings on I-44 (markings that can often be challenging to see in some directions when the sun is just right), crews would do all the asphalt work except for the final layer -- that would be put down at the end of the project to give a nice, clean layer of asphalt for the final lane lines -- giving a much cleaner and less confusing product at the end of the project. That final surface is currently being placed now and should be finished soon -- after the roadway was finished in December, we had to wait to get good spring temperatures before we could do that asphalt work. It should be much better when it is finished. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications -
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts. although based on the requests we have, there are most likely some people in Missouri who might disagree with you. Currently, MoDOT’s funding hasn’t significantly changed since 1993 – the department is funded by gas taxes, vehicle license fees and drivers license fees. The department hasn’t added a significant amount of roadway over the past 15 years – most of our work has been maintaining and updating the existing system. At this time, we have a significant amount of work that taxpayers would like us to complete: https://www.modot.org/media/23411. For more on funding, visit here: Citizen's Guide to Transportation Funding in Missouri | Missouri Department of Transportation (modot.org). Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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Last week, I had some comments regarding the signal timing on Gravois in the City of St. Louis and the coordination with Hampton Avenue for MODOT that were not addressed. Again, outside of the late and very early hours of the day, there is too much time dedicated to Gravois. The timing scheme may work fine in a rural area but not in an urban environment. This was pointed out by another poster not too long ago. It takes way too long for the signals (pick one, they’re all like this) to cycle for cross traffic. By and large, Gravois does not have the volume of traffic to justify all of the green time that is seen. Additionally, Hampton Avenue: I am perplexed how you can coordinate the signals with Interstates 64 and 44 but not Gravois. Particularly headed south in the afternoon/evenings, round that last corner by Wilmore Park and the signal is most likely already green, creating a red light by the time the mainline traffic on Hampton gets there, making them wait through an entire cycle. You have fiber interconnect paths established so this should not be an issue. Your consultant did not do a good job here. Are you taking any steps to move traffic on city streets in the city of St. Louis or have you given up? Please advise.
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Thank you for sharing your observations. I have passed them along to our traffic expert in the city. If I get any further details, I will certainly share them. Based on the terminology you use, you have some familiarity with corridor management. As you probably know, engineers do their best to optimize a corridor to ensure that traffic moves as smoothly as possible along it, when that traffic travels at the posted speed limits. A significant number of entrances can add to the complexity of optimizing a corridor. In addition, since the roadway that has the most traffic typically gets the most time, when you have two major routes, like Hampton and Gravois, it can take some time to find the right balance -- which is why observations such as yours are helpful. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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Please have someone check the timing of the traffic signal in Florissant at Howdershell Rd and Riverwood Estates Blvd. Drivers on Riverwood Estates making a left onto Howdershell wait for a minute or so while there is no traffic on Howdershell. Drivers are beginning to stop and then make the left turn through the red light. Thank you.
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Crews have been out around the region picking up litter on state maintained routes. If there is a specific location where you are seeing trash that needs to be picked up, you can share it here (or pass it along to our customer service team at 314-275-1500. They are available 24/7. Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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From what I am told, the heavy loads along the roadway deteriorated the roadway and we had to lower the speeds and restrict it to local traffic only. You can reach out to the district office in Hannibal (who oversees that roadway)) for an update by calling: (888)-275-6636. Since we are overseen by a commission, appointed by the governor, you might also want to appeal to them. And finally, the state auditor would be the point of contact for any audit of a Missouri state organization. Nicole Galloway, CPA (mo.gov) Andrew Gates, MoDOT Communications
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