In response to residents' concerns, the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) is set to dismantle the recently installed curb bump out islands along Routes 340 and CC, a move that acknowledges local feedback over the traffic-calming measures that had been a part of a larger safety initiative. The removal, which focuses on Clarkson Road and Long Road, will be completed by early summer, MoDOT confirmed in a recent announcement.
The curb islands, originally intended to improve roadway safety, faced pushback from the community, leading to MoDOT's decision to take them out - the islands had become a prominent feature of the Safety Improvements Project, targeting 230 locations in the St. Louis area, the initiative aimed to curb the higher than average crash rates on roads like Clarkson, which has a recorded crash rate twice the state average for similar routes. "We heard the community’s feedback and are making changes that reflect those concerns," MoDOT St. Louis district engineer, Tom Blair, P.E., admitted in a statement obtained by MoDOT.
The project's misstep was a lack of public and stakeholder involvement when devising improvements for the contentious roads, an oversight MoDOT's Blair acknowledged, saying, "We did not involve the public and stakeholders while developing improvements for Clarkson and Long roads,” he continued, “That was a misstep on our part. We heard the feedback and are committed to working with the community to resolve that moving forward," as mentioned on MoDOT. This realization signals a shift towards increased collaboration with residents to tackle persistent safety issues.
