JEFFERSON CITY—Senator Paul Wieland, R-Imperial, today announced an important project to improve the safety of students at the Ridgewood School intersection has been included in the Missouri Department of Transportation’s Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) for construction in Fiscal Year 2019.
Under the proposed project, a signal and U-turn would be installed on Rte. 141 and Old Missouri Road to decrease the chance of accidents at the Rte. 141 and Ridgewood School Drive intersection.
According to MoDOT, it would put a signal at the crossing of Route 141 and Old Missouri State Road, and eliminate the left turn from Ridgewood School to northbound Rte. 141, and build an offset right turn lane from southbound Rte. 141 to the school. MoDOT would also build a U-Turn on Old Missouri State Road wide enough for school busses to clear it. In addition, the department would rebuild the left turn from northbound Rte. 141 at Old Missouri State Road.
Because of blind curves, and more than 30,000 daily vehicles travelling the road, the intersection at Rte. 141 and Ridgewood School Drive is currently a hazard to travelers, especially parents and busses dropping and picking their children up from school.
Recently, parents and students presented a petition to MoDOT to increase safety on the road.
The proposed project is currently open to public comment.
“I strongly encourage everyone to visit MoDOT’s website and support the long overdue solution to a hazardous problem within our county,” said Sen. Wieland. “There have been too many accidents at that particular intersection, and I’ve fought for years to see something done about it. I’m glad to see this on the list of MoDOT’s proposed projects. Credit goes to the students and parents who rallied together to raise the department’s awareness of this dangerous section of highway. We have to protect students going to and from school, which is what this project would do.”
For more information on the details of the project, click here or visit www.modot.org/stlouis/major_projects/Route141SafetyImprovementsatRidgewoodSchool.htm.
Citizens can comment on the Rte. 141 project at www.modot.org/plansandprojects/construction_program/stipcomments.htm.
For more information on news important to residents of the 22nd District, visit Sen. Wieland’s official Missouri website at www.senate.mo.gov/wieland.