An "innovative safety pavement treatment" will be applied next week to two curves on U.S. 54 near Summit Drive in Callaway County, according to a Missouri Department of Transportation news release.
The curves, locally referred to as the Mel-Ray curves, will receive a safety application called High Friction Surface Treatment. The treatment will close one lane of U.S. 54 in the area of the curve from 7 p.m.-6 a.m. Monday-Friday, next week. One lane will be open through the work area at all times.
High Friction Surface Treatment (HFST) is designed to provide motorists with more traction in rain or snow, according to MoDOT.
Work is scheduled to begin in the eastbound lanes Monday, then move to the westbound lanes Wednesday.
All work is weather permitting and schedules are subject to change.
The High Friction Surface Treatment is part of the larger resurfacing and pavement repair project encompassing more than 25 miles of U.S. 54 from the Missouri River Bridge at Jefferson City to north of the Business 54 ramp in Fulton. The treatment was added to the scope of the U.S. 54 resurfacing project following a safety audit conducted on U.S. 54 from Camdenton to Mexico last year.
Median guard cable and "wrong way" signs will also be installed along sections of U.S. 54 from the Missouri River Bridge to I-70 in Kingdom City as a result of the road safety audit. The guard cable and signage portion of the work is scheduled for completion by fall 2018.
A section of U.S. 54 and Missouri 5 in Camden County and a section of Route W in Miller County also will get an application of HFST in the coming week.