By Shera Dalin
That’s the cost of the three signs along interstates 170 and 64 (Highway 40) that count down until the interstate expansion is complete at the end of 2009. The months ... days ... hours ... minutes ... seconds ... you sit behind the wheel stuck in traffic gridlock. Actually, when the signs were turned on for four days in November, motorists griped that it was like trying to read Social Security numbers—too confusing, they said. Now the signs count only the months and days.
The illuminated signs are the bright idea of Gateway Constructors, the consortium that is rebuilding the roadway. Gateway paid for them as part of its winning bid for the mammoth Missouri Department of Transportation project. Ultimately MoDOT paid for the signs as part of the contract, which means that you paid for it. Unless you live in the Land of Lincoln.
So look at the signs as Gateway’s commitment to gettin’ her done by the deadline. Or as the time you waste sitting in traffic.
