CHESTERFIELD — After months of complaints from motorists and elected officials, the Missouri Department of Transportation has agreed to dismantle concrete islands erected last year in the shoulders of Clarkson and Long roads.
“We heard the community’s feedback and are making changes that reflect those concerns,” Tom Blair, MoDOT’s St. Louis district engineer, said Friday in a statement.
“Due to the overwhelming response to the shoulder islands in this area, they are being removed.”
Blair said the removal will be completed by early summer.
The bump-out islands were installed in the shoulders to make the two roads feel smaller so people would slow down.
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The islands are several feet long and feature three poles that poke up. Bicyclists can get around them but there’s no room for cars and trucks.
Critics said they created problems by narrowing shoulder space for snow removal, emergency vehicle access and traffic pullovers. Because of the reaction, MoDOT stopped installing additional islands, pending a review.
State Rep. Ben Keathley, R-Chesterfield, who was among the critics, on Friday called MoDOT’s change of heart “a significant win for local safety and community input.”
The islands were part of an ongoing $52 million MoDOT effort to install safety improvements at 230 locations across St. Louis, St. Louis County and Jefferson County.
Blair said Clarkson still has a crash rate twice the statewide average for similar roads and that MoDOT will hold a “listening session” with nearby residents to identify concerns “that could be addressed with future projects.”
Chesterfield’s mayor and some aldermen had complained they had no advance notification that the medians were being installed.
The controversy had spurred Keathley to introduce a bill that would require MoDOT to get advance approval from city governing bodies for any such “traffic calming devices” and other major alterations to a state-maintained road.
The measure, which is pending in a House committee, would exempt municipalities with fewer than 10,000 residents.
Post-Dispatch photographers capture hundreds of images each week; here's a glimpse at the week of March 16, 2025. Video edited by Jenna Jones.
