JEFFERSON CITY – Did you know that Missouri Department of Transportation workers stripe more than 70,000 miles of roads each year, a distance that would circle the earth nearly three times?
They soon will be hard at work tackling that effort again. MoDOT crews will begin striping Interstates 44 and 70 in central Missouri beginning Sunday, July 30. Weather permitting, striping will take place during the overnight hours for up to three weeks.
Striping operations are considered work zones, just like any other maintenance or construction project, only they are mobile. During striping operations, motorists can expect to encounter slow-moving lines of trucks with flashing lights, boards with flashing arrows and signs that say "wet paint."
Striping trucks move at speeds between 8 mph and 12 mph. A driver traveling at highway speeds can approach these slow-moving striping caravans much quicker than expected. MoDOT encourages motorists to use caution and slow down when coming upon these striping caravans performing this necessary work.
“Despite all the precautions we take to keep both the traveling public and our employees safe there are still unfortunate instances of our vehicles being hit due to speeding and inattention,” said Central District Maintenance Engineer Jason Shafer. “To keep everyone on the highway safe, we ask motorists to slow down, to avoid any distractions in their vehicles and to pay attention to the road.”
For more information about roadway striping or other transportation-related matters, please call 1-888-ASK-MoDOT (275-6636) or visit www.modot.org/central. Follow the MoDOT Central Missouri District on Facebook for project updates.