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April 15, 2008 For immediate release For more information, contact: Bonnie Prigge, (573) 265-2993 Hermann Needs Highlighted At April Transportation Advisory Meeting ST. JAMES—Hermann Economic Developer Jay Gourley lives about 150 yards from the intersection of Highways J and 100 in Gasconade County. He keeps a stack of blankets ready and his CPR training up-to-date, in anticipation of the next accident at this northern Gasconade County intersection. While Gourley attended the April 10 meeting of the Meramec Regional Planning Commission’s Transportation Advisory Committee to discuss the deteriorating Frene Creek Bridge on Highway 19 in Hermann, he also took the time to champion the need for intersection improvements at Highways J and H. Judy and Bernell Hoelmer attended a past TAC meeting to ask the committee for assistance on improving the intersection and returned for the April meeting, to once again point out the need and willingness of area residents to help offset the costs through the donation of right-of-way and help with hauling expenses. “This is all about safety,” Judy Hoelmer said. Gerald Engemann, owner of Tri-County Trucking of Hermann, explained that trucks must get two-feet over the center line to make the turn and that tractor-trailers are taking alternative routes to avoid the intersection. He has agreed to help with hauling, should the intersection be improved. “It wouldn’t take a whole lot of dollars to fix it,” he added. Engemann also thanked MoDOT and the TAC for the bridge and roadway improvements at Highways 19 and 100 in Hermann. Earlier in the meeting, Gourley asked the TAC to add the Frene Creek Bridge over Highway 19 in Hermann to the TAC’s list of regional needs. Through a powerpoint presentation, Gourley showed the deteriorating, aging bridge and explained how it is too narrow to safely accommodate larger trucks, that its narrow width restricts water and causes flooding and that it is narrower than the city street to which it connects. “We want to get this bridge on the MoDOT list,” Gourley said. “We have new roads all around it.” In pointing out the importance of this project, Gourley explained that Highway 19—thanks to the new Kit Bond Bridge over the Missouri—was one of a few highways and—maybe the only highway—open to connect I-70 to I-44 during the recent flood. “It is something that is desperately needed for the flow of traffic,” Gourley added. The TAC agreed to add the need to its list, as they did previously for problems areas on Highway E in Maries County and the intersection of Highways 100/J in Gasconade County. “I know where you are coming from,” Osage County Presiding Commissioner Russell Scheulen, co-chair of the TAC, told the presenters. “We all have areas in our towns and communities that we would like to see changed or fixed before someone loses their life. Whatever funding mechanisms MoDOT presents to the TAC in the future—to keep from falling off the cliff, we need to take time out of our busy schedules to help promote these funding mechanisms because projects can be done so much quicker and so much easier if there is more money in the STIP. That will be the key to getting a lot of these problems fixed that are dangerous situations,” Schuelen concluded. The “cliff” referenced by Scheulen is the decline in construction funds that MoDOT will experience between 2008 and 2010 because of stagnant state funding lagging federal revenues, higher construction and fuel costs and bond repayment. MoDOT construction budget will fall from $1.3 billion in 2008 to $569 million 2010. MoDOT District 9 Planner Chris Rutledge explained the decreased funding and its impact on District 9 funds. In other business, the TAC:
Persons needing more information on MRPC’s Transportation Advisory Committee may contact Connie Willman at MRPC, (573) 265-2993. Meetings are open to the public. |