Road work continues

By State Rep. J. Eggleston
For the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDot), the coronavirus has been a good news-bad news event. Besides the obvious health and economic issues it has brought, the bad news is the virus has caused people to drive less, which means less gas and diesel are being bought, which means less fuel tax is being collected by MoDot.
This will affect future planning since fuel tax and license fees are MoDot’s primary funding sources.
The good news for MoDot is that with fewer drivers on the road, some planned road work can get done sooner. In some cases, work that was supposed to be done at night when traffic was low can now be done during the day. This is work that was planned and budgeted well before the virus outbreak.
MoDot recently put out a list of work that has been done, or we can soon expect to see, in our area. In Harrison County, bridge maintenance on Route N over I-35, at East Fork Big Creek over I-35, and at Sampson Creek on Hwy 136 in New Hampton, have all been completed. In Daviess County, Route B will receive pothole patching from I-35, through Coffey, to Route UU. Resurfacing on Route J from Altamont to Kidder has been completed.
In DeKalb and Gentry Counties, Route A between Fairport and Berlin will be closed for a bridge replacement project over the north fork of Lost Creek through June. The bridge is part of Governor Parson’s “Focus on Bridges” program.
Also, Route 6 will be resurfaced from Route 31 to Riverside Road in Buchanan County. This project will go through September.
In Caldwell County, the westbound lanes of Highway 36 will be resurfaced from the Livingston County line to Hwy 13 through April. This includes a 14-foot width restriction.