MODOT Prepares for One of the Busiest Construction Seasons in History
Date Posted: May 22, 2023
Posted In: News,
From Ozark Radio News: The Missouri Department of Transportation’s road construction season is kicking into high gear. Ed Hassinger, MoDOT’s deputy director, said Missouri is prepping for one of its busiest road construction seasons in the history of the department. He said the agency has more than $3 billion of work under contract.
Drivers can expect resurfacing on certain areas of the interstates and numbered routes, with some of the work being done at night. Some of the biggest construction projects are along I-270 in St. Louis, the Buck O’Neil in Kansas City, Rocheport in central Missouri, along with some of the low volume roads around the state.
According to Hassinger, heavy reconstruction is going on between St. James and Rolla on I-44. There’s also a bridge replacement underway between Joplin and Springfield on I-44.
“Every day, MODOT has between 2,500 and 3,000 people on the ground that are doing the MoDOT maintenance operations. Those are the employees of MoDOT. And then, of course, all of our construction is contracted to private contractors. We are probably employing, on any given day, a couple of thousand contract employees across the state that are building those projects,” said Hassinger.
If Gov. Mike Parson endorses the Missouri Legislature’s state budget proposal to widen I-70 to at least three lanes across most of the state, that project could also begin soon.
Missouri Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, said I-70 is one of the more “shovel ready” projects in Missouri. He estimates that the project could formally begin this fall.
“I would imagine that we have significant progress in putting this thing together probably by the fall, if not early winter of this year,” he explained. “I mean, you know, these budget bills start in July when our new fiscal year will start. I imagine there’s going to be a pretty expedited effort on MoDOT and OA (Missouri Office of Administration) is where the other portion of that debt bonding is, is located in our budget to start working together and getting that moving.”