July 20, 2023

Commission approves FY 2024-2028 STIP

At its July 12 meeting, the Missouri Highways & Transportation Commission approved the FY 2024-2028 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), which lists transportation projects planned by state and regional planning agencies July 1, 2023 - June 30, 2028. The five-year program includes funding from General Revenue – passed by the Missouri General Assembly and signed by Gov. Mike Parson – to widen and improve I-70, fix low-volume minor roads, upgrade railroad safety crossings and more.

The STIP makes available nearly $14 billion of federal and state revenues for all modes of transportation over the next five years, making it the largest program ever, with more than 1,500 planned construction projects. Of the $14 billion, the draft STIP details $10.4 billion in road and bridge construction contractor awards, averaging approximately $2.1 billion per year.

This plan is not as fiscally constrained as usual due to project cost inflation. The total inflation impact in the plan is estimated at $1.2 billion. Accordingly, the STIP adjusts the schedule for more than 400 projects, enabling MoDOT to absorb inflation and maintain project commitments.

The program details these maintenance improvements to Missouri’s nearly 34,000 miles of roads and 10,400 bridges. The draft STIP was released in June for public review, and MoDOT received 72 comments.

The STIP also includes detailed project information for non-highway modes of transportation and a section detailing planned operations and maintenance activities for the next three years. This additional information is provided to allow Missourians to more easily see how their transportation funding is invested. View the final STIP here.

July Commission summary

At its July 12 meeting, the Missouri Highways & Transportation Commission heard presentations from St. Charles County and the East-West Gateway Council of Governments.

Director McKenna shared the historic general revenue funding in the state's FY2024 budget signed by Gov. Parson. It included $2.8 billion for Interstate 70, $50 million for a railroad safety crossing program and $100 million for minor and low-volume roads and many more items.

The funding for I-70 will address a critical need to add a third lane each direction to 200 miles from Blue Springs to Wentzville. The Improve I-70 Program Director Eric Kopinski was introduced to the commission.

McKenna also reported on the annual internship conference, which was held the last week of June. Every summer, MoDOT employs interns in a variety of positions across the state, enabling college students in engineering, business, communications, environmental and other majors to work alongside professionals in that field. It is a great recruiting tool to encourage future full-time employment with MoDOT after graduation.

Read the full meeting summary, which topics include: Director's Report, Report and Recommendation Regarding MOU with Office of Administration for the Improve I-70 Funds, Improve I-70 Project Contract Authorizations, Consideration of Bids, Consideration of Proposals for the I-55 Jefferson County Corridor Design-Build Project, St. Louis District Update, Condition of State Bridges and Bridge Division, and FY2024-2028 Statewide Transportation Improvement Program.

Six counties in the Northwest District were recognized for having zero roadway fatalities in 2022!

Northwest Missouri Coalition for Roadway Safety Chairperson Jenna Keyes presented Show-Me Zero awards to Atchison, Caldwell, Carroll, Grundy, Mercer and Sullivan Counties. County commissioners, Missouri State Highway Patrol Troop H, local law enforcement and EMS gathered together to be recognized for their efforts to make this achievement possible.

MoDOT is hosting various hiring events across the state from late July through the month of August, seeking individuals who are interested in a career to “come for the snow, stay for the mow” and keep Missouri moving during the winter season and beyond.

Currently, MoDOT has hundreds of full-time and emergency maintenance positions available across the state.

These hiring events will provide applicants an opportunity for an accelerated hiring process, including on-site interviews and potential job offers; followed by initiating criminal background checks, drug testing and work simulation physicals. Offers made could result in new employees starting within a week.

For details on these events, and to learn more about these career opportunities, visit modot.org/opportunities-maintenance.

Leadership can take many forms. Sometimes it can be an action or attitude that might go unnoticed or unrecognized but has a big impact. Often, it appears in the actions of a fellow employee who is not in a formal leadership role. That's part of the inspiration behind the "Leadership in Action" employee recognition program. The program is based on a peer-to-peer recognition structure - an employee seeing another employee demonstrating MoDOT values and recognizing them for that leadership.

The criteria for who should receive a coin is up to the judgement of a coin holder. It could be a small act of consideration and barely noticed, or it could be for something big. Either way, this program allows employees to receive recognition from some of the most important people in their day-to-day lives – the colleagues they work with every day. 

Passing of the coin in recognizing leadership is what makes this program successful. If you are a current coin holder, please be sure to look for the next leader to move that recognition forward.

Passing Along a Leadership in Action Coin

When you are ready to pass the coin onto the next leader, please collect the following information:

• The number of the coin
• The name of the recipient
• A brief description of why they earned the Leadership Coin

Submit the above information to the program administrator in one of three ways:

• Send an email to LeaderCoin@modot.mo.gov
• Send a text to 573-257-7230
• Leave a voicemail at 573-257-7230

Keepsake Coin

The purpose of the Leadership in Action program is to pass these numbered coins and provide continuous recognition of great leadership at MoDOT. If you would like to keep a coin permanently, please send an email to LeaderCoin@modot.mo.gov requesting a non-numbered keepsake coin.

The attitude and mindset of our workforce throughout the department begins at the leadership level. Leadership looks different across many levels throughout our department and within the divisions.

No matter your position, leadership should always focus on your ability to help your team succeed to the highest level possible.

Please review these videos on different approaches toward leadership to help you meet the needs of your team:

• Leading with Kindness and Strength
• Leadership Mindsets
• Human-Centered Leadership
• Top 10 Rules for Highly Effective Leadership

Sometimes relationships are taken for granted – we get busy with our own lives and can forget to let the people we care about know how much we appreciate them. However, all it takes is a little effort and creativity to keep relationships alive and fun. Try the following ideas for relationships with family, friends and coworkers.

Family

• Slip notes into their lunch boxes.
• Buy that special lunchtime snack they love.
• Turn a child’s trip to the doctor into a mini field trip – go to the zoo, an historic part of town or a children’s museum afterward.
• Let your children decide what to serve for dinner, and help them to prepare it.
• Tell your child they are loved. 
• Turn a meal into entertainment – make pancakes in the shape of a heart or Mickey Mouse, arrange food to spell out names, make meals with a theme or eat in an unexpected place.
• Design a treasure hunt in your house with scattered clues that lead to cards or trinkets.

Friends

• Listen when a friend mentions an item they want – surprise them with it later.
• Update your contacts every six months – take that opportunity to catch up with old friends.
• Send a card for no reason other than to let your friend know how special they are to you.
• Don’t shop for the holidays only in November and December – purchase items you know a friend would enjoy, and save them for the holidays.
• Think of a fun event or trip you and a friend experienced together – call them and reminisce.

Coworkers

• Make their favorite foods as a surprise.
• Buy fun toys for coworkers to keep on their desks.
• If you see a movie, show, article, etc. that would interest a coworker, share it with them.
• Take on a job responsibility that a coworker does not enjoy doing.
• If someone helped you out, let their supervisor know.

The Southeast District held a public meeting on July 19 to discuss updated plans to replace the Chester Bridge across the Mississippi River on Route 51 in Perry County. 

During the meeting, the design-build contractor, Ames Construction, discussed plans to construct a three-tower, cable-stayed bridge just north of the existing structure. Renderings of the new bridge were shared with the public. Completion is anticipated by the end of 2026 and will cost approximately $284 million.

“We are excited to continue moving forward with the Ames Team to complete the Chester Bridge replacement project,” said Project Director Brian Okenfuss.

The current truss bridge was originally constructed in 1942. Approximately 7,000 vehicles use the bridge daily. Traffic will continue to use the existing structure during construction of the new Chester Bridge, and no long-term lane closures are anticipated.

For more information and to view renderings, please visit modot.org/chesterbridge.

A portion of Route D (Page Boulevard) in the city of St. Louis was transformed recently, with colorful tires, cones, channelizers and even a few flower pots.

It was part of a safety demonstration on the corridor, held July 11 – the first held on a MoDOT- maintained roadway. The intent was to prove to residents and commuters that traffic could still move effectively with various tools intended to help improve safety for all users on the corridor, which is scheduled for resurfacing. 

St Louis Transportation Planning Specialist Shaun Tooley (center) speaks with residents along Route D about various safety options for the corridor.

MoDOT is working with the city of St. Louis to implement various safety efforts on the nearly six miles of roadway. This section of Route D had 10 fatalities over the past five years and a crash rate of six times the state average, which makes it a great candidate for safety updates.

“Often, the first time people know that a project is coming to their neighborhood is when cones get put out at the beginning of construction. By then, it’s too late for their input,” said Area Engineer Jen Wade. “We wanted a way to capture people’s attention at the beginning of our design process so their local insights could be baked into the project from the beginning.”

During the four-hour demonstration, drivers experienced a lane reduction and two-way turn lanes in a four-block corridor, while pedestrians and transit users were able to see how pedestrian refuges and curb bump-outs improved their experience.

Traffic moves through the safety demonstration set up along a section of Route D in the city of St. Louis during evening rush.

“Pedestrians were a strong consideration on this project since there is a popular bus route here and four of the 10 fatalities in that five-year period involved pedestrians,” Wade said. “So many of the residents in this area are anxious about spending time as pedestrians on this corridor. Everyone we spoke to had a harrowing story about aggressive driving they had seen or crashes they had witnessed. They are ready for some changes that can achieve safety.”

Popstar Taylor Swift made a visit to Kansas City for the Eras Tour on July 7-8, and fans from all over the U.S. came to enjoy the show.

With higher traffic volumes expected, the Kansas City District shared a post on social media giving “Swifties” transportation safety tips. The post received 2,000 reactions, over 600 shares, 300 comments and reached over 300,000 people. Barrell Bob was the star of the post, and fans shared their excitement with MoDOT.

Submitted by Phillip Ebker, Southwest District intern

I attended MoDOT's 2023 Intern Conference, which was held in Jefferson City from June 27- 29. On the first day of the conference, the interns gathered at the Capital Bluffs Event Center and were split into groups. Each group was given a road sign, like a detour, rail-road crossing or stop sign to represent the group.

We heard speeches from Commissioners Dustin Boatwright and Bob Brinkmann and from Director Patrick McKenna. We also heard from other MoDOT employees in Central Office, who shared details of what they do and how they got involved with MoDOT.

That evening, we participated in a trivia contest, had dinner and played some mini golf. 

On the second day, our assigned groups were given a hypothetical road project to give a presentation on later in the day. Our goal for this project was to develop new road systems for a fictional town so we could understand what MoDOT employees go through when planning and developing road projects.

We then attended talks from MoDOT employees to learn about the various departments to help us develop our projects.

A group of MoDOT interns attending this year’s annual conference work on a hypothetical road project.

For our last day of the conference, we had a choice of places to tour. The options were Central Office, the materials labs or the Rocheport Bridge project. This was another opportunity to see what each department and division does within MoDOT. 

This conference showed me how unique each department of MoDOT is. The special part for me was getting to talk with MoDOT employees who knew my father, Lyndon Ebker. I got to hear wonderful stories about him. The conference also helped me understand why MoDOT is such an important part of what makes Missouri prosper.

School is out, but children are still eager to learn! More than 80 energetic children visited the St. Louis district office for a day to learn more about what their parents and other MoDOT employees do at work.

Bring Your Child to Work Day was created to provide an atmosphere for MoDOT employees to teach their children, ages 9-14, their job responsibilities through fun interactive activities.

The day-long event consisted of several activities that demonstrated how different departments of MoDOT work together and get results. One of the activities encouraged creativity by building a bridge using steel plates that connect together. Another activity gave the children an opportunity to learn more about the ingredients in concrete and how it works on our roads. 

“My daughter had a blast," said Senior Right of Way Specialist Shelley Hynes. "She could not wait to finish one activity so that she could get to the next one. The thing she liked most was how she learned about what other MoDOT employees do outside of my job, and how they all work together. ” 

There was also a Buckle Up Phone Down session where Troop C did a demonstration with their roll-over vehicle. Through this demonstration, the children learned the importance of how everybody riding in a vehicle should be buckled up.

The children also showed excitement as they were able to climb into different MoDOT trucks and learn more about how they are used on the roads. Other activities taught them importance of work zone safety through building a miniature Barrel Bob. 

At the end of the event, many kids expressed gratitude and pride in being able to spend a day at MoDOT and learn more about how the department helps their families travel safely.

July retirements

Northeast District

Jeffrey Leake 23

Jerome Jarvis 2

Kansas City District

Judith Magruder 35

Central District

Jon Schneider 30

James James 32

St. Louis District

Keith Sims 16

Southwest District

Gena King-Erwin 15

Southeast District

Bobby Loveland 23

Lloyd Crewse 26

Gregory Van Horn 24

John McDowell 32

Daniel Staffen 16

Jeffery Wachter 34

The mission of Connections is to be a source of MoDOT news

and feature articles that connect employees statewide.

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Editor: Sr. Communications Specialist Bethany Belt

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