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Federal funds badly needed to improve safety on Highway 67 south
A Daily American Republic staff member was on her way home Wednesday night when she came upon a series of serious accidents that had left a small Hyundai sandwiched between two large semi trucks.
Emergency workers had to cut the seriously injured driver free from the vehicle.
It wasn’t the first time this staff member has come across a serious accident on Highway 67 south between Poplar Bluff and the Arkansas state line.
It wasn’t even the second or third times.
In fact, a rough count of Missouri State Highway Patrol crash data shows that stretch of road had 68 injuries and four deaths between January 2015 and December 2019. That was from 45 injury accidents.
We didn’t count the non-injury accidents over that period, but that number is much higher.
The city of Poplar Bluff is working with state and federal officials to make the much-needed upgrade for Highway 67 south to four lanes.
We applaud the citizens who voted to help fund this effort. A Poplar Bluff sales tax provided the starter money for the project, which will rely on state and federal money to reach completion.
We also want to tell our elected officials that this work can’t happen soon enough. It’s something we’ve heard from both travelers and residents of that area.
Our staff member noted during Wednesday’s accident that traffic was backed up for miles, and what stood out was the high number of semi trucks in that traffic.
Highway 67 south saw an average of 1,400 tractor-trailer trucks a day in 2016, the most recent data available from the Missouri Department of Transportation.
This is up by about 40% from 2009.
Average daily traffic in 2009 was also about 4,500 vehicles, compared to about 5,500 in 2016.
Poplar Bluff city officials have secured grant funding to help pay for the first two phases of the 12-mile project and hope to learn in the fall about federal funding for phase 3. Funding also has yet to be secured for the final phase.
It wouldn’t hurt for us to continue to let our elected officials know how important this project is to us, not just in Poplar Bluff, but also for the hundreds of people who pass through on our local highways every day.
Studies show safety increases dramatically when a congested rural highway is improved to a four-lane highway. It provides safer passing and less points of conflict with oncoming traffic from smaller side roads.
Crashes along a segment of roadway can be reduced by 35% when a passing lane is provided in both directions of travel to create a short four-lane section, a 2016 report from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found.
This isn’t new information.
A 1999 study found a 40-60% reduction in crashes per kilometer when a two lane was converted to a four-lane, divided highway, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration.
And in case you were wondering, the Poplar Bluff office of Missouri Rep. Jason Smith can be reached at 573-609-2996. The Cape Girardeau office of Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt can be reached at 573-334-7044.
— Daily American Republic