MoDOT spends $3 million to repair Highway 124/Route B

MoDOT is set to spend $3 million dollars to repair 14.5 miles of road along Highway 124 and Route B.

The project was set to start today, but they are pushing it back to next week, due to weather.

Over the last 5 years, there have been 5 fatalities on Highway 124, North of Hallsville to South of Centralia. The deaths have resulted in cars crossing over the center line, hitting another head-on.

ABC 17 spoke with locals and an engineer from MoDOT today on the details of the project.

Construction is set to begin on Highway 124, just north of Hallsville up to south of Centralia. Then, the crew will move to Route B, South of Hallsville to Brown Station Road.

Olivia Spry, a student, told us she had a friend who totaled his car last winter on the road. “He hit ice and the car went all the way around, he was going to fast on the corner,” she said.

Another local, Billy Ellis, told us, he does not understand all the crashes, “they’re going too fast. It’s not the roads,” he said.

MoDOT’s plan is to fix the roads to help with safety and ride-ability.

A resident engineer from MoDOT said, “we’re putting center line and edge-line rumble strips throughout the entire length of the project to hopefully reduce the number of crashes resulting in people leaving their lane.”

They will also be adding new pavement shoulders and some new asphalt to certain areas.

The construction is set to take place overnight, from 7 p.m. to 6 a.m. They expect the project to be complete by Summer 2018.