Our Opinion: MoDOT slims down, turns to Js and devours smog

News Tribune editorial

Monday, October 10, 2011

Recent pronouncements from the state’s transportation agency have ranged from gratifying to questionable to quirky.

The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) provided an update last week on its five-year, cost-cutting plan.

MoDOT announced it has saved $177 million toward its goal of saving $512 million by 2015. To date, the agency has eliminated 667 staff positions, closed 23 facilities and disposed of 245 pieces of equipment.

The announcement may be somewhat self-congratulatory, but the progress deserves praise.

On a separate note, we’ll reserve judgment on the first of the new “J-turns” opening on U.S. 54 in Cole County.

The J-turns are designed to replace the admittedly dangerous grade level intersections along that stretch of highway. A preferable alternative, diamond interchanges, are cost-prohibitive at this time.

But J-turns are not without hazards. Essentially, they require exiting onto a deceleration lane from a highway passing lane, negotiating a hairpin turn in a median, accelerating and merging into passing-lane traffic, then traversing from passing lane to cruising lane to deceleration lane. (Schematics on MoDOT’s web site — modot.mo.gov/central — offer a visual illustration.)

The advantage of a J-turn in comparison to a grade-level crossing is the tendency to eliminate broadside collisions.

But side-swipe and rear-end collisions remain distinct possibilities, as do their consequences — overturning and careening off roadways.

The benefits and liabilities of Jturns must be monitored closely.

Finally, MoDOT soon will provide a glimpse of the future when it installs smog-eating concrete along a stretch of roadway.

The agency plans to test a new type of smog-absorbing concrete on a section of Route 141 in St. Louis County. The work is scheduled to begin on Oct. 19.

The concrete contains a photocatalytic additive of titanium dioxide (TIO2), which absorbs smog, uses sunlight to break it down, then releases it as nitrogen and carbon dioxide.

Although the additive has been used in Europe, MoDOT officials believe the Missouri project will be the first test in the United States.

If all goes according to plan, perhaps we all can breathe easier.

More like this story

redenamel 1 year, 7 months ago

Perhaps MoDOT should be commended for their ongoing success in their workforce reduction. But It really disappoints me that your article seems to warmly approve of it. I know no one really cares because I've been trying to get someone to listen for months, but the workforce reduction is a sham to cover up the waste of billions in tax dollars. MoDOT's budget was around $600 million before Amendment 3 was passed in 2004. The Highway Commission needlessly sold bonds backed by the Amendment 3 money and other sources, and with the proceeds boosted the budget to $1.2 billion for four or five years. Now that loan money is spent, and it's time to pay off the bonds at over $200 million per year for the next 20 years. $2.2 billion will be paid in interest alone! They've overspent, so now to be able to match federal funds and go back to their previous $600 million budget, their answer is to get the money off the backs of their workforce. I've been using your blog service to try to get the word out at newstribune.com/weblogs/redenamel/
If you still support MoDOT's cost-cutting plan after reviewing the information provided in my blog entries, then I should give up this cause, because I was convinced that the plan is inherently wrong.

muleman 1 year, 7 months ago

Are they going to have office personel plowing snow ?

herewego 1 year, 7 months ago

Don't think so, remember--they sold the equipment! They'll be doing snow removal like they do litter pick up, have different groups pick zones they want to shovel by hand! HEREWEGO

muleman 1 year, 7 months ago

Or maybe pay convicts to do it like they do the mowing and trash pickup

JCLifer 1 year, 7 months ago

Why pay em? We give them free room and board, free college degrees, free cable tv, free clothing, free gym club, etc.

muleman 1 year, 7 months ago

Better ask someone besides me that question bacause I have no idea why they pay them, but they do.

JCLifer 1 year, 7 months ago

No, we the taxpayers pay them. It is OUR money.

JCLifer 1 year, 7 months ago

Don't you know that getting rid of employees is the fashion these days, even though skilled labor is going to be very hard to find in five years due to all the baby boomers retiring?

Employees are not our greatest resource to be developed and cared for. Rather, they are horrific expenses to be eliminated, starved, punished, and otherwise spit upon.

JCLifer 1 year, 7 months ago

There is plenty of money for 6-year vesting retirement plans for legislators. Plenty of money for legislators to vote themselves a big retirement increase. Plenty of money for the Governor to have many more staff than budgeted and to pay them big salaries. Plenty of money to give millionaire baseball players and owners money to build larger stadiums. Plenty of money for corporate welfare for campaign donors. Plenty of money to buy a $34 million IP phone system with a 10-year ROI.

Why do you say there is no more money?

Also, revenue reciepts are running higher than projected.

redenamel 1 year, 7 months ago

MoDOT's management intended to hire contractors for part of the snow removal this year due to a shortage of maintenance workers (more have left than they expected after the workforce reduction started). When they solicited bids for snow removal, they came in too high. They are now resorting to hiring and training over 200 emergency on-call workers to plow snow this winter. You can see the job vacancies on the MoDOT web site at modot.org/jobs/JOA_statewide.htm Getting rid of hundreds of their experienced workers and hiring workers they need to train is what their management calls the "right" thing to do!

JCLifer 1 year, 7 months ago

Just think of the poor work and all the equipment damage that will result, as well as the roads not being plowed well by all these temps.

redenamel 1 year, 7 months ago

They keep claiming that services will not suffer. I don't see how that's possible. The original 10 districts have been reduced to 7 resulting in some really huge areas to manage. 131 buildings are being closed. Last winter they changed the snow plowing policy from making the roads clear to making them "passable". This news article explains it:
stltoday.com/news/local/metro/article_5893dbed-2883-58cc-8ae2-4d2a5c6677a5.html How can they claim that service will still be good?

redenamel 1 year, 7 months ago

Experienced workers are leaving at twice the normal attrition rate - many employees apparently don't want to hang around for MoDOT's Bolder Five Year Direction. Maybe it should be renamed the Bolder Five Year Disaster.

redenamel 1 year, 7 months ago

If it's the right thing to do, then all that matters is recovering the money that MoDOT's leaders wasted, which describes their attitude very well.

Please review our Policies and Procedures before registering or commenting

Or login with:

OpenID

News Tribune