Hillcrest bridge opens after improvements

Hillcrest bridge over Interstate 470 opened this Monday after being closed for improvements and repairs since late March.

These improvements include substructure repairs, bridge deck replacement and bridge girder repairs.

This bridge project is included in Gov. Mike Parson’s $351 million Focus on Bridges program, which will repair or replace 250 bridges across the state. Approximately, 3,500 vehicles drive on Hillcrest bridge each day.

Here are some pictures of the bridge before:

And here are some photos taken during the semifinal inspection:

MoDOT Employee takes swimming to the next level

KC Scout’s Traffic Systems Supervisor Kelly Alvarez recently provided a deep dive into her favorite hobby—scuba diving.

Alvarez has been scuba diving certified since 2015. She said her friends’ encouragement inspired her to join the scuba community.

 

“I have always enjoyed swimming and the water,” Alvarez said. “Scuba diving allowed me the opportunity to take this to the next level.”

After receiving a basic open water scuba certification, she took her first dive trip to Boca Raton, Florida. Since then, she has had the opportunity to dive in many locations, including three international dives in Honduras, Thailand, and Iceland.

On her first international trip, Alvarez went to Thingvellir, Iceland, and dove into the Silfra Fissure.

The Silfra Fissure is the only place where you can dive in between two continents.

In 1789, an earthquake shook Thingvellir and created fissures in between the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates. The Silfra Fissure continuously moves apart 2 centimeters every year.

On her trip, Alvarez swam in between the fissure. When she touched these two tectonic plates, she simultaneously had her hands on the North American and Eurasian continents.

To swim in the fissure, Alvarez needed to wear a dry suit. Unlike other dives, the Silfra Fissure remains in glacier water, which is colder than most ocean water. Glacier water is also the clearest water in which to dive.

“It’s funny because usually when people think of scuba diving, you often picture tropical regions, but in Iceland, the water is 35 degrees and contains hardly any marine life,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez enjoys taking these trips with her friends and uses it to reconnect with them. According to her, there are no strangers amongst the diving community.

“They are a truly phenomenal group,” Alvarez said. “There is a shared like-mindedness among all divers for the hobby and the conservation of oceans.”

After her latest trip in December, Alvarez researched diving in Alaska for a possible trip in the future. However, with the pandemic, it won’t be for some time. 

"Perhaps when travel conditions and safety precautions improve, I'll test the waters," Alvarez said.

District Engineer shares appreciation toward employees

This week, District Engineer Dave Silvester created a video to share his appreciation with Kansas City employees. 2020 has been an unexpected year, and he appreciates everyone's willingness to rise to the occasion.

Click here to view his video. 

MoDOT employee enjoys a truly cutting-edge hobby

Kansas City District Maintenance Engineer Lynelle Luther combines her engineering skills with artistry to transform something broken into something beautiful.

Luther has made stained-glass art off and on since 1998. In the past five years, she has committed more time to the craft. With this extra time, she expanded to other types of glass art, including fused glass and mosaic work. 

She said she finds the available versatility of the art the most appealing. 

“I like working with it because you have so many different colors and can put them together in so many different ways,” Luther said. 

She draws inspiration for her work from other pieces of art and nature. 

Pictured to the left is Luther’s favorite piece made so far. To make this, she first found the window frame from an antique store, and then took out the original panes of glass to make room for her design. In addition to creating the nature design, she installed new panels to the window.

To make a stained-glass piece, Luther said, you must first start by using a steady hand to score onto the glass the dimensions you will need for the design. Then you use a cutting wheel to apply pressure and break the glass into pieces for the design.

“It can be kind of dangerous, the process of breaking glass,” Luther said. “There have been a few times when my workstation sort of resembles a crime scene.” 

She joked about her past wounds and remarked that one cut on her thumb should have probably gotten stitches.

Once you finish the cutting and breaking, then you arrange the pieces and fuse them with a kiln. 

Luther takes her art to a kiln located in a glass shop. She is part of the community of stained-glass artists at the shop.

“It’s never a quick trip when I go because I always stay and chat with them,” she said.

With almost 22 years of experience with this hobby, Luther has made numerous pieces of stained-glass art, too many to say an exact number. She enjoys collecting them or giving them as gifts. 

“I like working on the glass. Being focused on cutting, making my design, and putting it together helps me block out everything else and focus on the piece,” Luther said. 

Shared Work program highlights

This week marks the beginning of the Shared Work program for many employees at MoDOT. Central Office has put together a comprehensive list Frequently Asked Questions regarding the Shared Work program on Shared Point. Below are some highlights from the FAQ document.

• Beginning this week, the week of June 14, employees in the Shared Work Program will only be able to work 32 hours each week from Sunday to Saturday.
  
  
• Employees in the Shared Work program will not be able to answer emails or phone calls once the 32 hours are met. 
  
  
• Employees who are in the Shared Work program will be paid hourly and paychecks may vary depending on how many days and hours are worked in a given pay period.
  
  
• The first paycheck with the reduction in pay will either be the June 30 paycheck or the July 15 paycheck. (See question 15 on the FAQ document.)
  
  
• Employees who are in the Shared Work program will receive a $600 unemployment check for the first six weeks of the program and up to $64 in state unemployment per week for the entire 12 weeks of the program.
  
  
• Employees in the Shared Work program must go to the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to provide information about how they want their unemployment checks delivered.  
  
  
• These unemployment checks will be delivered weekly, beginning June 28.
  
  
• Employees must work at least 24 hours and no more than 32 hours each week. Employees can take up to 8 hours of annual leave but are not able to take any sick leave. If an employee must take more time off they will not be eligible for the $600 weekly unemployment that week, but the employee will be eligible for the $600 subsequent weeks if they meet the work requirements.
  
  
• Annual leave caps will still be enforced on Oct. 31. Employees with up to 10 years of service can have up to 240 hours of annual leave, employees with 10 to 15 years of service can have up to 288 hours and employees with 15 years and more can have up to 336 hours banked.

One of KC’s biggest projects makes great headway

One of the district’s largest project, the Interstate 435 and Interstate 70 partial turbine, is right on schedule. In the next few months, the construction will consist of placing pavement and building one more bridge. This bridge, going northbound on I-435 over I-70, will be the last structure needed to be built in the project. 

According to Resident Engineer James Pflum, there is still a lot left to finish in the pavement area but the overall shape and look of the project is done. 

Motorists can expect to see paving crews working to lay pavement to the roadbeds in the next couple of months. Also, they will see various other improvements like guardrails, signs and pavement markings.

These improvements are expected to have little impact regarding the stadiums this coming season. People will need to pay attention to the construction for some preseason games, but the main ramps to the stadiums are anticipated to be open by then.

“It will be more of an awareness that there are workers and work zones still in the area,” Pflum said.

The I-435 and I-70 partial turbine is scheduled to be completed by December 2020.

Shared Work Program begins June 14

Effective June 14, a Shared Work Program will be implemented across MoDOT.

Employees have the option of taking a 5 percent salary reduction while continuing to work normal hours, or taking advantage of a Department of Labor and Industrial Relations program—called the Shared Work Program—that will require employees to reduce their work by 20 percent with corresponding reduction in pay, but makes them eligible for unemployment benefits and, until July 25, a weekly $600 payment.

Employees will be automatically enrolled in the Shared Work Program unless they notify their payroll representatives by June 12 that they wish to opt-out and take the salary reduction instead.

All available information, including FAQs and a video message from Director McKenna, are available here.

If you have additional questions, contact covid-19questions@modot.mo.gov.

Family tradition becomes hobby for MoDOT mushroom hunter

Some hunters use rifles. Some use bows. Hunters like Senior Construction Inspector Lisa Raybourn simply follows the trees.

Raybourn hunts morel mushrooms every spring. She said she has been hunting mushrooms for as long as she can remember.

“We would always go up to my great-grandmas, which is in Princeton (Missouri),” Raybourn said. “I know there are a lot of edible mushrooms, but we have always just hunted morels.”

Morel mushrooms appear in the spring, often around trees with moist soil.

For Raybourn, mushroom hunting is a hobby associated with fond family memories.

“I have lots of really good memories with the family we went to my great-grandma's property,” Raybourn said.

After the family hunts, Raybourn said her great-grandma would fry the mushrooms and they would enjoy their bounty together.

When it comes to cooking morels, Raybourn said she prefers them battered and fried.

Like most mushroom hunters, Raybourn has her spots that she goes to every year for her hunts but she said she also explores new places, often along the water.

“We look a lot at trees. Certain trees are better,” she said. “You try to go before everything gets grown up too much so you can see them better.”

Since mushroom hunting season is in the spring, it correlates with tornado season.

Raybourn’s most adventurous hunt occurred during a tornado.

She and a friend had taken a boat to look for mushrooms at a spot you can only reach by boat. Once they arrived at their spot it started to rain and hail with gusts of wind. Raybourn said they waited out the storm before heading back to the boat.

“At the time I didn’t know it was a tornado,” Raybourn said. “I didn’t have my phone with me. I had left it in the boat.”

Once Raybourn and her friend got back to the boat, they realized a tornado had nearly crossed their path. Driving the boat back to their vehicle they saw the tornado's destruction.

“That’s when it was like, wow, it was too close,” Raybourn said.

Despite that close call Raybourn continues to mushroom hunt every spring. When she can, she said she enjoys using annual leave to spend weeks at a time hunting morel.

“I love it so much,” Raybourn said.

Interns start socially distanced summer programs

Communications intern Kayla Ramsay, front, takes a selfie 

with communications team members from left: Lairyn 

McGregor, Markl Johnson, and Melissa Black.

This week Kansas City MoDOT had 18 interns join our team.

There are 13 interns spread across our project offices, two in design, two in materials and one in communications.

“This is actually a perfect number,” said Kyle Chancey, intermediate human resources specialist.

This year an internship with MoDOT looks different than in years past because of all the precautions and social distancing surrounding Covid-19.

One big change is that most interns are working remotely when they aren’t on-site. When interns do drive to job sites, they will be driving in separate vehicles from MoDOT employees—another change from previous years.

“It’s definitely been a challenge to adjust to the new way of doing things during this time,” Chancey said.

Like many MoDOT employees, Chancey started his career in the department as an intern himself. He said he wants to make sure the 2020 interns receive the same benefits of the program as he did. That will look different this year, particularly when it comes to networking and building professional relationships with MoDOT employees.

Chancey said all the MoDOT districts are working with Central Office on ways to keep this year’s group of interns engaged.

Despite the challenges of starting an internship during the Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s interns are excited about the opportunity.

“I’m looking forward to learning,” communications intern Kayla Ramsay said. “The only obstacle is that this isn’t the normal way that the internship would have gone.”

Free program for teen drivers

Do you have a teenage driver? Or know someone who does? First Impact is offering a free seminar to teach parents about Missouri's Graduated Driver's License law and provide tools to help teach new teen drivers. Click here to register. 

New addition to MoDOT's family

Congratulations to Senior Maintenance Engineer Specialist Bryce Acton on the upcoming addition to his family. Acton and his wife are expecting a baby in November 2020.

Area engineer becomes award-winning Cosplayer

 Area Engineer Rich Shipley’s passion for engineering extends beyond Missouri’s highways and bridges.

For years Shipley has built things outside of work as a hobby. He’s created wooden furniture and replicas, specifically Star Trek Ships.

Three years ago, Rich’s wife, Transportation Project Designer Regina Shipley, suggested that he check out a two-day workshop on how to create Cosplay costumes.

“I’ve seen this Cosplay stuff because we always go to Planet Comicon every year,” Shipley said.

He decided to give it ago and the rest, as they say, is history.

Cosplay, for those who are unfamiliar with the activity, is a combination of the words costume and play. Participants create costumes to replicate specific characters.

“You have to kind of figure out how to put something together and what order to do it, and it’s kind of an engineering thing,” Shipley said.

The workshop that Shipley attended taught him how to create a pistol out of foam.

Shipley took what he learned and created a costume based on a character from the video game Fallout.

He entered a competition with this costume in 2018 and won the Novice Foam Work award.

“That got me hooked,” Shipley said.

Shipley uses foam to create his costumes.

“It is easy to shape, and you can heat it and bend it,” he said.

Shipley chose a video game where his costume included battle damage. He said this gave him a lot of leeways to remain authentic to the look even with slight mistakes.

“Most of these people that do Cosplay will do three, four, five outfits in a year,” Shipley said. “I do one a year because I’m kind of a perfectionist with this kind of stuff.”

Shipley participated in a Cosplay competition in 2019 and received a Judge’s Choice award.

“I was doing another costume for this year but of course this year it got canceled,” Shipley said.

Currently, Shipley is updating his original Fallout costume.

“I’m trying to improve upon it,” Shipley said. “I usually work on this every weekend.”

With virtually all weekend plans canceled, Shipley said he’s had plenty of time to work on this hobby during the pandemic.