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Editorial
Thanks owed to MoDOT for resurfacing projects
Saturday, July 27, 2019
Driving along Main Street the other day, I couldn’t help but notice how nice the street is now. While being forced to stop at a light every 100 yards remains, gone are the potholes, large cracks and rough drive that made driving on Main Street even more aggravating.
And while I am never quick to commend the Missouri Department of Transportation, I think they and the City of Sikeston must be commended for the resurfacing work that has been done on Main Street. Not only is the street looking and driving great, but the work was done while causing hardly any inconvenience to traffic.
I think we all can agree that resurfacing Main Street could have been a huge headache for a lot of people. Closing parts of the street during the day would have impacted thousands of drivers and led to any number of accidents. But instead of doing the work during the day, MoDOT chose to work in the evening and night time hours, limiting the impact on those traveling on the busy Main Street.
I’m sure the workers enjoyed the cooler temperatures at night but they probably spent as much time swatting mosquitoes as they did resurfacing. But besides the mosquitoes, I think the working at night benefits the workers as well. While it still isn’t completely safe for workers with cars zipping past, at least working at night lessens the traffic and reduces the chance some idiot doesn’t slow down and injures a worker.
But Sikeston isn’t the only community in the area I have noticed MoDOT working with. They are currently working with the Cape and Jackson communities to find a way to not close the heavily traveled U.S. 61 center junction for seven months while constructing an Interstate 55 interchange. Closing that center junction would impact about 20,000 motorists a day.
It’s nice to see MoDOT working with communities and trying to limit the disruption to travelers. And while we have all complained about road construction impacting our drives, I think we should at least say ‘thank you’ to MoDOT when they are able to do it at the least inconvenience to us.