Editor:

Early this morning MoDot put on overlay on Hwy. 39 from Hwy. 54 over to the point of intersection with Hwy. 32 at the west edge of Stockton. They did a beautiful job of resurfacing the roadway but they stopped without striping the roadway for traffic. The job must have been finished about Oct. 6, without striping although on the entire length they put up signs along the road that said, “No Center Line.” Well glory be, we can see there is no center line.

I had no reason so use the road after nightfall until the 16th, when I drove to Stockton at about 8 p.m. and realized how dangerous that was after dark. I live about 10 miles from Stockton and at about the halfway point I met one oncoming auto and even though we both dimmed our headlights I was almost totally blinded with the oncoming headlights and I’m sure the other driver was as well, but luckily we passed each other without a side-swipe. Thank God.

On Tuesday the 12th, I tried calling MoDot but the numbers listed in my book I was told were no longer valid numbers so I ended up contacting Missouri – State of information at 573/571-2000 and was connected with a most helpful lady who inquired “how can I help you?” I explained the reason for my call that I thought we had a very dangerous situation here in Cedar County that needed immediate attention and she said that she could and would contact MoDot immediately. She inquired as to my name and phone number which I gave her and she asked if I would like a return call on the matter and I said, yes.

Some two hours later I saw a state vehicle driving the highway and 30 minutes later my phone rang and the caller identified himself as being a MoDot representative and agreed with me that this was a very serious situation and while he could not give me a date as to the when the highway would be stripped it would be an A-one priority job, now that was about 4 p.m. Tuesday the 17th. When I started to Stockton at 10 a.m. on the 18th from my house I could see stripping on the road and they had already put the white line on the east side of the road and had yellow lined the center of the roadway one-half the total distance. Now today with the overlay and the new stripping we have a beautiful roadway and most important a safe roadway.

I have no idea as to the delay in applying the stripping but I must commend them on finishing the job when it was brought to their attention.

Bud Olinger

El Dorado Springs