Only in Missouri

I am sitting at home innocently watching the evening news and I hear them announcing another road closure in St. Louis for the weekend. This weekend it is I-64 between Jefferson and 6th St. That is inconsequential. If it weren't there it would be somewhere else. Only in Missouri do they completely close portions of the interstate to repair it. 


Ever since Modot hatched there scheme to close Highway 40 for a couple years to redesign it they have been bolstered by the fact that all of their officials came out unscathed by the process. They claim that closing the interstate entirely to rebuild it will become a model for road repair throughout the country. I hope not. Only in Missouri would they even consider this.

I hate road construction. I expect new roads to just appear, fully operational with no inconvenience to me. But since the rte 40 - I-64 rebuilding Modot has become emboldened, trying to find one section of interstate after another to close each weekend. One weekend they went so far as to close both a section of 1-55 and I-64.

I suspect that some of the funds appropriated to repair roads involved in the recent closings come from stimulus funds. I would rather they use those funds for studying yellow bellied sapscuckers deep in the forests of Arkansas than for road repair if it is going to slow down my trip to Trader Joe's this weekend.

Missouri should adapt the same road working policies that have been in place in IL for generations. An entire generation is about how long it takes IL road crews to complete their work. That is partially due to the fact they don't close the  road completely, forcing me to find alternate routes. (Yeah, like my GPS lady isn;t confused enough already since I rarely trust her with directions since she got me lost in Amish country.) In IL we just drive in single lanes past orange barricades forever, prompting some visitors to believe that Orange is our state color.