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Missouri plans quicker improvements on state highways

By Tom Weber, KWMU

St. Louis – Missouri highway commissioners voted Wednesday to speed up improvements on 5,500 miles of highways.

It's part of a new goal to have 85 percent of the state's busiest roads in good condition in five years.

The vote put $124 million in projects on this year's construction schedule.

MODOT spokesman Jeff Briggs said some of them had been planned for later years, and some were not even on MODOT's five-year plan.

"We are maxing out our resources right now to get as many improvements as we can dealt with in the next several years," Briggs said. "Five years from now, Missouri's highway system is really going to be in pretty terrific shape."

Briggs said the initiative will use existing money and will not mean a tax increase.

Among the projects included in the plan is a resurfacing of Highway 40 from the Missouri River to the Chesterfield Parkway.

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