The Reporter covers Miller, Morgan and Camden County in Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks and is published once per week on Wednesdays.
Published January 28, 2015
MoDOT: some roads will deteriorate
By Jeff Thompson
LAKE OF THE OZARKS - The Missouri Department of Transportation’s (MoDOT) plan to
maintain state highways under a reduced budget will focus on what it considers
“primary roads” that connect cities across the state, including lake area
Highways 54 and 5.
The plan was recently presented to the Missouri Highway and Transportation
Committee which is expected to act on the proposal at its Feb. 4 meeting.
MoDOT’s “Tough Choices Ahead” plan will take aim at approximately 8,000 miles of
Missouri's 34,000-mile state highway system.
“The 8,000 miles make up the state’s primary roads and are the highways that
connect cities across the state,” a MoDOT spokesman said.
According to Central District MoDOT Engineer Bob Lynch, lake area primary roads
will include Highway 54, Highway 5, Highway 42 and Route 7.
Also included are Hwy 52 in Morgan County and Hwy 17 in Miller County.
Lynch said the classification of “primary roads” is not necessarily based on
traffic counts but on interconnectivity across the state.
The state agency claims to be facing a budget challenge after losing a ballot
issue last year which would have increased taxes, something the voters of
Missouri soundly rejected.
MoDOT will use its smaller annual construction budget - which is expected to
drop to $325 million in 2017 - to keep these primary roads in “good condition”
with maintenance and rehabilitation work such as overlays and bridge
replacements, the spokesman stated.
However, enhancements on these “primary roads” such as interchange improvements
or road widening will not be possible, MoDOT said.
“The remaining miles of roads and bridges will make up the state's supplementary
system and will receive only limited routine maintenance,” the spokesman said.
“That means MoDOT crews will do the best they can to maintain roads and bridges
on the supplemental system with internal resources.”
The “limited routine maintenance” will include filling potholes, patching
pavement and flushing and sealing bridge decks, but without more money, MoDOT
says these repairs will not be enough and “with only limited routine
maintenance, however, these roads will deteriorate.”
The threat from MoDOT goes even further. Supplementary roads will become a
patchwork of repairs, heavy loads on Missouri bridges will be limited and some
bridges could be closed indefinitely.
MoDOT Director Dave Nichols said a smaller budget means a sharper - albeit
limited - focus.
“We need at least $485 million to maintain roads and bridges in the condition
they are today, so facing a $325 million budget means making some tough
choices,” Nichols said. “In addition, Missouri won’t be able to match federal
funds in 2017, which provides a $4 to $1 investment. That revenue will be lost
to other states.”
Nichols said MoDOT has done all it can to put as much money as possible toward
roads and bridges.
“We’ve reduced staff, facilities and equipment and directed the savings to roads
and bridges,” Nichols said. “Without additional funding, though, we’re now faced
with having to reduce services as well.”
For more information go online to MoDOT's Tough Choices Ahead website,
www.modot.org/toughchoicesahead.
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