COLUMBIA – Motorists can expect to see an increase in traffic on Missouri’s interstates and major routes this weekend due to the Labor Day holiday and the Missouri Tigers’ first home football game of the season on Saturday at Memorial Stadium/Faurot Field in Columbia.
Missouri Department of Transportation maintenance and construction work will be suspended at noon on Friday, in advance of the holiday weekend. Work will resume on Tuesday, Sept. 5.
MoDOT will also have staff in Columbia on standby Saturday for the football game to handle emergency maintenance situations and to help the Missouri State Highway Patrol with traffic control if needed.
Mizzou officials also have access to MoDOT’s traffic data and will tweet out via their Twitter account traffic times to various locations before and after the football game.
As a routine practice, MoDOT staff has also been monitoring traffic signals at major highway intersections around the university for several weeks to ensure they are timed and operating properly.
“We are always ready for Mizzou’s home football games,” said Central District Engineer Dave Silvester. “In addition to staffing for emergencies and traffic monitoring, we perform a number of maintenance activities in advance to make sure state routes are clean, clear and safe.”
The Missouri Coalition for Highway Safety will also be at the game asking drivers to buckle up every time they get into a vehicle and to put their cell phones down when they are behind the wheel as part of the Buckle Up/Phone Down safety initiative. Fans are encouraged to take the Buckle Up/Phone Down pledge at the game and pose for a “Buckle Up/Phone Down” safety selfie. The Buckle Up/Phone Down pledge can also be found on the web at www.MoDOT.org/BuckleUpPhoneDown/.
Motorists are encouraged to check road conditions before they travel by visiting the Traveler Information Map at www.modot.org or by calling MoDOT’s customer service center at 1-888-ASK-MoDOT (888-275-6636). The toll-free telephone line is answered 24-hours a day, seven days a week.