Butler County will see more than $1 million in paving improvements after contracts were awarded recently by the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission.
An additional $1.5 million in resurfacing is planned in Ripley and Carter counties and nearly $2 million in Wayne County. Almost $2.3 million in pavement improvements will occur in Stoddard County.
Butler, Ripley, Carter, Wayne and Stoddard counties will see about $7 million in work through more than a dozen projects. All of these projects were awarded to Apex Paving Co.
The Missouri Department of Transportation has determined which areas to target after monitoring issues across all counties, according to David Wyman, MoDOT Area Engineer for the Southeast District.
“We rate all of the routes in 25 counties in our district,” he explained. “We keep track of all of them, and we have a rating program that we go through that we call our asset management program.”
MoDOT uses a vehicle that measures the roughness of roads, as well as visual inspections by employees, to gather information.
“All of our resurfacing, all of our expenditures are based on the data that we collect,” he said. “And really, the ultimate test is what we call the seat of the pants test where the person driving down the road is driving on a really smooth surface.”
Construction has not been scheduled to begin, but once dates are finalized additional information regarding timelines and impacts to traffic will be released.
Pavement improvements in Butler County will include: Route N from 51 near Qulin, to Route 51 near Fagus; Route F from Route 160 to the end of State Maintenance; and Route KK from Route T to Route W.
Wyman pointed out that through cooperation with the city of Poplar Bluff and Butler County, more improvements could be on the way.
“The citizens of Poplar Bluff are working with us and we’re going to be having some bigger projects on Route 67 to the south of Poplar Bluff,” he said. “To me, that just shows a tremendous partnership that we have with Butler County and the city of Poplar Bluff, and we really, truly appreciate that partnership, and how well we’ve worked together with them.”
Resurfacing planned:
• Ripley County — Route 21 from Route 142 to the Arkansas state line; and Route T from Route 160 to Route 142.
• Carter County — Route B from Route 21 to Route 60.
• Wayne County — Route Z from Route D to Route P; Route V from Route 34 to Route A; and Route B from Route 34 to Route U.
Pavement improvements also include:
• Stoddard County — Route O from Route 25 to Route P; Route D from Route 25 to Route 153; Route FF from Route E to Route 114; Route MM from Route U to Route J; and North Outer Road along Route 60 from Route AD to Route 25.