The local Missouri State Highway Patrol driver examiners are settling into their new Poplar Bluff home on the campus of Three Rivers College.
After being housed in the former National Guard armory on Fifth Street for longer than most officials can recall, the Poplar Bluff DE station now is located in suite 107 of the Crisp Technology Center.
“The increased size of the new facility as compared to where we were previously doing our testing allows us to accommodate an increased number of applicants and service to the citizens of Missouri in a more efficient manner,” said Sgt. Clark Parrott, Troop E’s public information officer.
The first testing, Parrott said, took place Monday, Jan. 11.
“Based on what I was able to gather, it went well,” Parrott said. “Everyone seemed to like the newer, bigger facility.”
The new location, Parrott said, provides easier access and more parking than what was available at the old armory.
“The division has no record of how long we have been testing at (the armory) location in Poplar Bluff,” said Parrott. “Many have advised they took their driving test there in 1972 and believe we have been testing there a long time before that.”
Records of testing totals, Parrott said, only go back 10 years.
More than 15,000 driver’s examinations (written and skills tests) have been given at the Poplar Bluff location in the last decade, Parrott said.
Patrol officials report other changes, effective immediately, to the testing schedule for the Piedmont and Fredericktown driver examination stations.
Testing at the Piedmont DE station will be offered at the Piedmont City Hall, 115 W. Green St., on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month.
Testing at the Fredericktown DE station will be offered at the National Guard Armory, 104 Armory St. on the first, third and fifth Tuesdays of each month.
For more information, contact Troop E’s driver examiners at 573-718-9484 or the patrol’s website at www.mshp.dps.missouri.gov.