The Reporter covers Miller, Morgan and Camden County in Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks and is published once per week on Wednesdays.

 

Published June 21, 2017

Larger Wrong Way signs coming to Hwy 54

CAMDEN/MILLER COUNTIES – Larger “Wrong Way” and “Do Not Enter” signs have are being installed on Route 54 in Camden and Miller counties as part of an effort to prevent wrong-way traffic crashes.

The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) is placing the new signs as a result of a road safety audit conducted last year on the 100-mile stretch of Route 54 from Camdenton to Mexico.

Guard cable and high friction surface treatment on several curves will also be installed on Route 54 as part of the audit’s recommendations.

While the audit found the existing conditions on the Route 54 corridor to meet all state and federal standards, MoDOT is implementing the additional safety enhancements in an effort to further reduce incidents.

Crews started with removing old signs and placing new ones at the Route 54 and Route AA intersection and have worked westward through Miller and Camden counties.

The work is taking place during daytime hours, from 6 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The installation is scheduled to be finished in September.

Most of the work will take place in the highway median, but there will be times when the median crossover will have to be closed to replace the signs. When that happens, traffic will be detoured to the next crossover.

Message boards ahead of the work zones will warn motorists of lane or median crossover closures.

The audit stemmed from a rash of wrong-way drivers on Route 54 in Miller County, along with a double-fatality crash on a curve located between Holts Summit and Jefferson City that occurred in July of 2016.

Conducted by a multi-agency task force, the audit examined wrong-way, curve and cross-median crash data for the five-year period covering Jan. 1, 2011 to July 19, 2016.

The task force members also visually observed crash locations on Route 54.

“Based on the audit findings, we believe a combination of traffic solutions can be implemented to enhance safety along the Route 54 corridor in mid-Missouri,” said David Silvester, district engineer for MoDOT’s Central District. “We now are looking at the fastest and most cost-effective way to do as much of the work as our limited resources will allow.”

The stretch of Route 54 from Osage Beach to Camdenton will also receive guard cable to prevent cross-median accidents.

The guard cable, along with signs and high friction surface treatments on curves are among MoDOT’s recommendations to enhance safety on the 100-mile stretch of Route 54 from Camdenton to Mexico.

For more information about this project or the Route 54 road safety audit, please call 1-888-ASK-MoDOT (275-6636) or visit www.modot.org/central.

All content is Copyright 2017 by Reporter Publishing, L.L.C. Unauthorized reproduction is prohibited without written permission.