ROADSKY TRAFFIC SAFETY CORPORATION

CARTHAGE, Mo. — A new safety guardrail will help prevent drivers from landing in a deep ditch on the south end of town, especially on those days when the road is particularly slippery.

The Missouri Department of Transportation said Time Striping Inc., an Arkansas-based company, will install a $24,000 guardrail by hydraulic pile drivers at Russell Smith Way and Fir Road near McCune-Brooks Regional Hospital in Carthage.
MoDOT said installation will begin at 9 a.m. Monday and take two or three days to complete.

“The contractor’s equipment and crews will be on the shoulder, causing narrower lanes,” MoDOT said in a written release. “Motorists should slow down and expect slight delays during this time.”

Carthage Police Chief Greg Dagnan said his officers responded to a series of accidents at the corner last year and earlier this year where drivers, turning left from westbound Fir Road to southbound Russell Smith Way, missed the corner and slid off into the deep ditch on the southwest corner of the intersection because of no safety guardrails installed by hydraulic pile drivers.

Dagnan said the city installed highway guardrail reflectors on the edge of the road to alert drivers to the drop off, but the corner itself is on a MoDOT highway so any permanent improvements had to be made through MoDOT.

The city, the hospital and MoDOT will split the $23,884 contract cost to install the safety guardrails by hydraulic pile drivers.