Imagine smooth surfaces, bright roadway stripes, signs that are easy to read and road improvements that enhance your safety. This vision of getting the state’s major roads in good condition is becoming a reality.  

Missouri’s major roads carry the majority of our traffic and need the most improvements, according to MoDOT Chief Engineer Kevin Keith. And the department is busy pulling together detailed expectations for how we’ll tackle this work.

“About 5,400 miles of major roads carry 76 percent of Missouri’s traffic,” he said. “Only 47 percent of these roads are in good condition.”

Major roads are what the department calls principal arterials. These are roads that provide for statewide or interstate movement of traffic such as Interstates 70 and 44 and Routes 63, 54 and 36.

As a comparison, Keith said, the state’s minor highways, which include about 27,000 miles, carry only about 24 percent of the traffic. These highways, sometimes called farm-to-market roads, include lettered routes such as A, C and DD that serve local transportation needs. Sixty-two percent of these highways are in good condition.

Don Hillis, director of System Management, and his staff have developed the expectations for the planning, design, management and operation of Missouri’s major and minor highways so all employees will be on the same page as we tackle this project. In general, the practical design philosophy will be implemented for all construction projects; safety will be monitored with a focus on reducing fatalities and serious injuries; and work zones will be managed as to minimize impact on the traveling public.

On major roads, the focus will be on improving and/or maintaining pavement; shoulders; bridges; access management; incident management; traveler information; traffic signals; rumble strips; pavement markings; signing; delineation; roadsides; and welcome centers/rest areas.

Thanks to the passage of Amendment 3 in November 2004, we’re able to address some of the needs of both our major and minor roads. The state’s 2006-2010 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program contains 866 projects totaling $7.3 billion - $5.9 billion of which is focused on improving the state’s major roads and bridges. This work includes rebuilding Interstate 64 in St. Louis, building a new Paseo bridge in Kansas City and finishing Routes 36, 71, 60, 61, 67, 54 at the Lake of the Ozarks and 65 south of Branson.

We’re also taking care of the state’s existing highway system through our Smooth Roads Initiative, which will bring 2,200 miles of Missouri’s major roads up to good condition.

“When SRI is finished at the end of this year, we’ll focus on the next 3,200 miles of major roads,” Keith said. “By 2010, the end of the current five-year program, 75 percent of our major roads will be in good condition.

Once we improve our major roads, we’ll turn our attention to fixing the minor roads, Keith said.

“In the meantime, we’ll continue to maintain Missouri’s minor roads at or near their current level. However, as we look ahead, we should not expect our minor roads to become super highways. Our vision for these roads is good pavement, stripes, two-foot shoulders and improved bridges – all of which will take money.”