A day in May! And, a bridge update!

Long Horn Family Dining!

Forsyth MO. – It was late May and since my most recent efforts at dieting had gone to hell, I decided to go out and eat something that was really fattening good! I was craving a good old fashioned hamburger and fries sort of meal, but I also didn't want it from a take out window. The Long Horn then came to mind as they have one of the best hamburgers around!

As it was mid-week, there wasn't a ton of customers eating there when I arrived for lunch at about a quarter to Noon. Just one family with a screaming kid. Outside the day was warming up quickly and was expected to reach the low nineties by the afternoon. Thank goodness for air conditioning!

I ordered the Kountry Burger Deluxe which was your basic hamburger along with a side of crinkle cut fries. Throw in a cold diet Pepsi and you have a not very shabby lunch! (I've ordered this meal for years and can attest to it's ability to satisfy the main human senses as well as filling the stomach up in good fashion). And were it not for a family with that screaming kid just a few feet from my ears, it would have been a nice experience. I left the place deciding that perhaps abortion wasn't such a bad idea after all....

Peggy's Park Place Market!

After enjoying that loud lunch, I decided to take a run down to Peggy's Park Place located near the intersections of Hwy's 160 and 76 for some grub. I've found that, very often, their price points for staples like beer seemed to be a little lower than some venues closer to home. They also offer a good selection of wines, liquors, canned goods and snacks all at competitive prices! While at the store, I ran into the Mayor who wanted to know what exactly was wrong with me... I made my purchases and skedaddled...

Shadowrock Park!

Peggy's has been dealing with a number of challenges, for some time, related to the fact that MODOT was building a multi million dollar bridge nearby and construction of that nature is most always disruptive to small and large businesses alike. I took a moment to drive down to the neighboring Shadowrock Park to see how well the RV's and other campers were dealing with everything. Only about one half of the camping spaces were now available due to the heavy equipment being located at the far end of the park. The sister park located across Bull Shoals and know as River Run, was closed for the season due to both bridge construction and to the flooding from recent rains. And, on this day, there were only a few campers in evidence, anyway.

As an aside, I did have some concerns as to what was going to happen to the old bridge as I'd heard a couple of different stories concerning its fate. One person told me it would be torn down and the other that it was going to remain for food traffic use. I called MODOT at 417-895-7600 and as to speak to the Project head, Johnny Teegardin, but he was not in office. I settled for sending him an email that addressed these questions as well as asking for an update on the roundabout that was still planned to go in later in the year.

[Good day Mr. Teegardin. My name is Dan Owen. I'm a Taney County resident and I've spoken with you before concerning the Bull Shoals Bridge project and just wanted to say you've done a very good job thus far. My concerns this day lie in two areas; 1) what the ultimate fate will be of the older bridge and 2) whether you had a time line for the start and completion dates for both the bridge and for the roundabout.]

MODOT response:

Mr. Owen:

The old bridge will be demolished after traffic is switched onto the new bridge.

The roundabout was awarded to the low bidder Lehman Construction which is the same contractor who is building Bull Shoals bridge.   At this time, I am not sure when he will start on the roundabout.  He was able to start it in mid-march, but has chosen to not impact traffic in this area until he gets the Bull Shoals project near completion.   We will have a pre-construction conference to discuss this and should know in the near future.  They could start any time after that conference.

The completion date for both the roundabout and the bridge projects are November 1, 2018.

JT

JOHNNY TEEGARDIN

Resident Engineer