MoDOT moves to finish Stars and Stripes crossover closure

The Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) will soon begin work near the Stars and Stripes Museum in Bloomfield to finish up a project that was first started when the Missouri Veteran's Cemetery was opened.

A narrow crossover and two entrance roads, one belonging to the Stars and Stripes Museum and the other to Hilda Fuwell's Residential Care Facility, are scheduled to be removed sometime before the end of March.

"I think that the project will take a day or two to complete," said Lindell Huskey, area engineer for MoDOT. "We don't believe that we will have to interrupt the flow of traffic. Everything should go smoothly."

The reason for the delay in finishing the original project, according to David Vaughn of the MoDOT traffic department who attended the Stoddard County Commission meeting Monday, was that in the contracts which were signed at the time, no one was listed as responsible for paying for that work to be completed.

"I have been through all of the contracts and is doesn't list anyone as being responsible for doing this," Vaughn told the commission. "We are trying to finish this up as quickly as possible and thought it would be best to touch base with you."

The commission, because Stoddard County is a township county, does not own any road equipment and is not responsible for county roads. The Castor Township, who would be responsible for those roads, doesn't own any equipment, either.

"The deal that was made originally was that MoDOT would create an entrance to the cemetery if we would pay to build and pave an outer road leading to Hilda Fuwell's Residential Care Facility," said commissioner Ray Coats. "The road that we were responsible for is ready and we all really thought this was going to close a long time ago."

Vaughn then told the commissioners that he would make a request for MoDOT employees and equipment to complete the job. MoDOT officials agreed.

The museum will now share the Missouri Veteran's Cemetery entrance while the residential care facility's entrance is located on the new outer road.

"If you want to come into the museum just take the cemetery exit," said Stars and Stripes Museum Director Deloris May. "You will see arrows on the sign in the entrance pointing you where you need to go."

Coats said that he was glad the project would soon be finished because he felt the old crossover "was too dangerous. It is just too narrow and you have to worry about someone getting hurt."

"The crossover is very dangerous, especially for the buses and vans that come in here," said May. "It is entirely too narrow and it's time something was done to remove it. We're really happy about this."

Teresa Allen, manager of Hilda Fuwell's Residential Care Facility, had a slightly different outlook on the situation.

"I think it will be nice that they are finishing this up, but I don't see why they have to close off our entrance and the crossover," Allen said. "This new service road is beautiful, but we don't hardly use it at all.

"Most of our traffic uses the entrance there on the highway," Allen continued. "Since they are closing off the exit to the museum, I don't see why they have to remove our entrance and the crossover."

Sacha Champion may be reached via e-mail at schampion@dailystatesman.com