Road Weary - Two More Die on Highway 54

Since I've been in Jefferson City these 30+ years I've seen a number of improvements to area highways. Highway 50 has just been improved to dual lane going west. Highway 63 is much improved going up to Columbia and Highway 54 is nearly at interstate quality going up to Fulton and Kingdom City. All of these improvements have resulted in increased speed limits on these roads. Even though they are not limited access highways, the speed limit is often 70 mph with drivers usually driving at 75 to 80 mph. Sight lines are sometimes limited and drivers who think they are on a high-speed, limited access road are surprised to see people pulling on the the highway from a stop sign. Speed limits are too high in places where there is frequent cross traffic.

I now know four people who have been killed on US highway 54 heading south out of Jefferson City toward Eldon and the lake. There are many more but I am only acquainted with four. The two most recent died on Sunday, a husband and wife -- coworkers with Jill and I knew one from my volunteer work at the Archives. Before that there was Dustin, our one-time neighbor boy from across the street who died a few years back and before him there was the county sheriff who also died in a car wreck on the same stretch of road. All of these were from drivers pulling out on to the highway after stopping at a stop sign intersection.

Speed limits need to be reduced along that stretch of road until proper overpasses and entrance ramps can be built. Traffic to and from the Lake of the Ozarks is often too congested for the capacity of the road at that speed, especially with people pulling boats or trailers.

MODOT installed special flashers at the airport road up near Columbia. These are activated whenever a car approaches the intersection from the side road. That would also be something that should be done at each cross road to alert high-speed drivers that someone may be trying to get on or across the highway.

I'm tired of going to funerals -- especially for deaths caused by something that borders on negligence by the highway officials.