And who pays for these sign? they are not cheap…I love how certain agaencies feel free to spend our tax money without any insight to what people may or may not want.For those who do not travel Hwy 40 or never did, this is a waste of money anyway you look at it.

What is the point of these clocks when the media will be talking about it nonstop for three months prior?
Think of how long they constantly talked about the closing last year before it happened.

I’m with Steve. Forget the signs and devote the time and money to finishing the job earlier. What a waste…clock signs!

I see my tax dollars are hard at work…

One question only:
WHY IS THIS EVEN NEWS.

UN……FREAKIN………BELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How about cutting the freaking taxes on gas instead of putting up clock signs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

from Michael:

I agree with everyone above. Can’t we just put up a some metal sign should they do anything at all? Why all the hoop-la-especially for those who don’t even use 40/64.

Good old post dispatch reporting - pointless.

You guys realize that this is a blog and not a column, right?

Really, Do they care how much gas everyone is wasting driving all the way around for 2 years?
Hurry up and get finished ahead of schedule if you want to make people happy about something. I can’t imagine the road being that much better when it is finished anyway.
I moved to Chesterfield on Jan 2, the day they closed the road. Great timing.

With the clock, they’d better finish the job ON TIME.

How much will the electric bill be every month to power these ridiculous signs?

I am a person who hardly ever travel hwy 40 I do travel 64 on the ill side. But I do agree that it is a waste of the tax payers dollar to put dum signs up when that same money could be going to better eqiup.OUR TROOPS ABROAD are to help our homeless or drug treament centers.Anything better than road signs o excuse me I mean electronic road signs.

Too funny! Posting countdown clocks on the roads that you mainly closed. What a joke. If you feel the need to spend money on that, then why not post them on the now alternate routes? I44 - I70 and Ladue Roads just to name three. Chalkboard paint and a box of sidewalk chalk from Big Lots would have been just as efficient and MUCH less expensive. St. Louis officials hard at work again!

This is the best part of the story:
“The jumble of numbers as they were displayed confused too many passing motorists.”

With the proper education, someday, MO citizens will be able to decipher a countdown timer and digital clocks.

Uh Bob…They were a jumble of numbers. Looked nothing like a countdown timer (certainly not a clock). Did you seen them?

Maybe I’m crazy for thinking this, but don’t drivers get a bit more credit for knowing when this construction is done when they physically OPEN the lanes of traffic again!? I’d expect that the day or two before this work is completed it just MIGHT be deemed news-worthy, but not a day before.

I agree this is a waste of tax dollars but Steve the first poster, I have a question:

You said, “For those who do not travel Hwy 40 or never did, this is a waste of money anyway you look at it.”

I disagree with this statement.

For example,

Should the state not put up an electronic emergency alert board in Joplin, Mo with state tax dollars because people who live down state will never see it or use it?

Sure, this is a waste of money, but the idea of it being a waste of money BASED on the fact that not all people will reap the benfits of their tax dollars in the state they live in is a bit off base.

Maybe they could move the Countdown to Completion signs to the Ballpark Village site, but leave them non-functional.

These signs are so stupid. Not only are they a waste of money, but they create traffic congestion as people slow to read them in areas that are already highly delay prone. And they serve absolutely no useful purpose.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

Yes, this is truely another amazing idea from our honored Missouri Department of Transportation. Why don’t they take the money spent on these signs, clocks and electric and put the money into the huge pot holes on the enterance ramp from Berry Road to East bound highway 44?

That may be to much to ask? Fix the pot holes? What will us tax payers want next, clean the debris from the highways?

Y2K Traffic

wait, there has been a mix up. apparently the timers are not going to be located on westbound Highway 40 near Kingshighway, southbound Interstate 170, nor at eastbound Highway 40 near Interstate 270. the deal fell through when a trio of real estate brokers implored MODOT to move the signs to Central location in downtown Clayton, for the good of the city.

Centene declined to comment.

electricity + maintanence= our tax dollars being wasted….YET AGAIN! If you can’t find ANYTHING worthwile to spend money on….what about a state rebate check?! (HAHAHA, yeah I know…..a gal can dream though!;)) Or heres a thought…..lower the tax rate on gasoline to create less of a burden on all of us! Amazing how our political crew can delegate where our money goes and we have absolutely no say in it.

Besides being a distraction, the signs are another waste of tax dollars which could be better spent on overtime to keep the crews working overtime, if necessary, to get this miserable project finished. Speaking of waste…any clues on why the bridge on Highland Terrace and another one west of Highland were replaced. Both are bridges to nowhere…just a convenience for a precious few residents to they don’t have to use Big Bend. I should know…I lived in that area for 16 years and never saw another car using those bridges (unless you went Little Flower church). Shame on MoDot and the lobbyists once again.

Although I don’t mind the sign, it didn’t have to be a digital clock? I agree that the money could be used somewhere else.

However, the point about how it’s a waste because you don’t even use “that” highway is ridiculous. This seems like a common thought in the st louis region. Why build something downtown when I live in west county? Why build something anywhere in west county with state money when I live in Clayton? Come on! Things get done slow enough around here without that argument!

I’m pretty sure those signs are powered by solar panels. And the timers were not at all confusing in there original format. I guess it took too much effort for some drivers to look above each group of numbers to see what they meant. But that doesn’t surprise me given the amount of griping about the project as a whole. Anyone that drives that stretch of 40 and has seen the new 170 interchanges should appreciate that improvement already. But I guess bringing that up will bring on the whining about how you can’t get on N. 170 from Eager anymore.

LOL at all the whiners. First of all, asking the government to be effcient is like asking the sun not to come up. Second, Having the signs count down is a reminder of the job which needs to be done. Such a countdown helps to serve the greater purpose. Manufacturing makes use of counters and such that are visible for everyone to see so all know what is going on. I am sure MODOT had a kaizen event to understand the concept. If you really think this type of idea is crappy well Toyota makes use of similar ideas and last I checked they lead both quality and sales.

Of course, I will toss all I typed out the window because being MODOT there is no way logical thinking went into the idea of the clocks however positive the idea could be.

If you want to see a great waste of our money, drive 270 south from I-44. Modot is installing 60MPH signs on just about every post that is standing on both sides of the road. These are not painted signs, but complex, lighted, 60PH signs, that only about 1 in a hundred drivers, and NO TRACTOR TRAILERS

Talk about wasted money! look for the lighted 60MPH signs being installed south of I-44, on just about every pole available on both east and west bound lanes! About 1 in a hundred drivers, and NO TRACTOR TRAILERS will pay attention to them, or probably see them, but taxpayers are sure going to pay for them along with the dumb 1/4 mile markers along every state Hy, because someone thought drivers didn’t know where they were at times! Lower the gas tax, or fix the roads, but we sure don’t need anymore signs on the highways!

Did any of the complainers bother to read the entire thing? The contractors are paying for this - it’s just a bit of corporate PR. They do this sort of thing for projects like this because some people get irrationally bent out of shape anytime they see/hear something they don’t understand or agree with, no matter how trivial it is.

Somebody ought to put up a sign that counts out the cumlative amount of money being spent per second on this ridiculous pork barrel project. It would be a blur - kind of like MODOT’s logic and ability to spend our tax dollars.

You are all a bunch of whining morons. I think they are doing a great job with a really tough situation! Lay off! How about this, when 40/64 it reopens stay off!!