MACON, MO -- The following is a press release from the Missouri Department of Transportation:

The Missouri Department of Transportation has announced a resurfacing project on Route 129 in Sullivan County is scheduled to begin on Thursday afternoon, June 25.  A surface treatment, called cold in place recycling, will be done on 11.4 miles of Route 129 beginning at Route C and continuing south to end at Route 11, just south of the Linn County line.

The work is expected to take approximately 11 days to complete, but is weather dependent and could be delayed or rescheduled.

During the process, the road will be closed to all traffic in the two-mile physical work zone and the remainder of the route between Route C and Route 11 will be restricted to local traffic only. All non-local traffic will need to choose alternate routes.  Traffic control devises will identify the closure locations for the local traffic. Motorists moving large farm or other implements must choose alternate routes as well. 

The cold in place process moves very slowly and the large equipment must be left on the roadway even during non-working hours, which is the reason MoDOT must close the roadway to all but local traffic.  MoDOT advises all motorists to exercise extreme caution in and around the work zone area.

 This is a very cost effective process that will make the road look and feel brand new, even though we have used recycled materials.

"We understand this will be an inconvenience to motorists," said Assistant District Engineer Kevin James,  "and we will do everything we can to minimize the delays as much as possible."

The cold in place recycling process involves milling off the top two inches of existing pavement, adding additional asphalt oils to the milled material, then laying the recycled material back on the road surface.  When the contractor is finished with this process, MoDOT maintenance forces will complete the project by placing a chip seal on the recycled surface. 

A total of 141 miles of cold in place recycling will be done across the northern tier of the state this summer, thanks to funding received through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

The  $5.9 million contract for the entire141 miles was awarded to Hall Bros. Recycling and Reclamation.

For more information, contact the MoDOT District 2 Customer Service Center toll-free at 1-888-ASK MoDOT (275-6636) and visit the MoDOT website for updates, construction schedules and photos of the project at http://www.modot.org/northcentral.