Friday, December 7, 2012
Missouri Department of Transportation employees install signs along Route FF near Eureka this week.
During the same week Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) employees installed new caution signs along curves on Highway FF near Eureka, a serious accident happened on the roadway. MoDOT data indicates Highway FF has a crash rate of at least 25 percent over the statewide average for a two-lane road. Reviews of traffic reports reveal Highway FF was the site of 129 accidents during 2006 to 2010, including three fatalities. "As promised, we should have the majority of the signs up by the end of the year, pending weather delays," said Judy Wagner, P.E., Missouri Department of Transportation area engineer for Franklin and Jefferson Counties. Wagner said they still have several of the sign post delineators to install when they get them, …
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
An annual kickball tournament held in Eureka to benefit the KMA Foundation brought competitiveness and fun from all ages. For Eurekans who remember Kaela Archambault before the fatal accident, it's bittersweet.
Twenty-two teams competed in the annual KMA Foundation kickball tournament in Eureka Saturday, with one team traveling all the way from Iowa to participate. Games were held at Lion's Park. Proceeds went to KMA (Keeping Memories Alive, Kaela Marie Archambault) and OneCurveAtaTime non-profit organization launched by Shawn Archambault when his daughter, Kaela, died in a head-on collision accident on Nov. 18, 2010, on a dangerous curve of Route FF. "Since Kaela, there have been five others who died on FF; that's a lot of people lost," said Shawn, while he jumped in and out of meditating about the delicate balance of life and death Saturday in-between kickball games. There are 21 curves on Route W and 19 on Route FF, depending on what one …
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
The fund-raiser will honor the victims of “Kaela’s Curve.”
Both individual and team entries are being accepted for next month’s Co-Ed Kickball Tournament at Eureka’s Lions Park. Proceeds from the event will go to the KMA Foundation’s memorial scholarship fund. The family-oriented event begins at 10 a.m. Saturday, Aug, 25. Teams of 10 will compete. Teams can include both adults and children age five and up. Individuals or smaller groups who want to play can be partnered to form teams. There will be food, drink and live music to entertain players and fans. The KMA Foundation was founded after the tragic death of Kaela Marie Archambault in a 2010 traffic accident. Kaela’s death also spurred the creation of the One Curve At A Time to push for improvements to Missouri Highway FF and other dangerous …
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Lions Park
333 Bald Hill Rd, Eureka, MO
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Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Ashley Harper of High Ridge was ejected from her vehicle after it left the roadway. Ironically, the accident occurred one day prior to deadline for comments to Missouri Highways and Transportation Commissioners about safety improvements there.
A High Ridge woman survived a car crash May 31 on Highway FF just south of Schoenfeld drive in Jefferson County, near Eureka. Highway FF is known as one of Missouri's most dangerous two-lane roadways. According to a Missouri Highway Patrol report, Ashley Harper, 21, of High Ridge, was travelling northbound on Highway FF when her Ford Ranger went off the west edge of the roadway, striking an embankment before overturning. Harper, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the vehicle, according to the report. She was taken to Mercy Hospital in Creve Coeur by Eureka Fire Protection District emergency responders, and was initially listed in serious condition, but a hospital spokesman said Harper was treated and released on the same day…
Thursday, May 17, 2012
Eureka's One Curve At A Time founder says the deadline is June 1 to submit public comments to Missouri transportation officials who will vote on the final list of statewide roadway projects to fund the next several years.
As of today, residents only have 15 days left to voice their support of keeping the proposed Highway FF road improvement projects top-of-mind for Missouri Highways and Transportation Commissioners who will vote on July 11 regarding final Missouri Department of Transporation projects to receive funding for the 2013-2017 period. In the draft Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) for Missouri, funding for shoulders to be added along the entire stretch of Highway FF is at the top of the list. "We need your help to keep it there. Timing is critical. Don’t wait to email public comments. Missouri Department of Transportation funding is tight. If we keep Highway FF as a top priority to be funded, we can make our region safer," said …
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Safety, job creation, and better transportation were cited Monday as reasons Missouri needs funding for roads, rail and bridges. Shawn Archambault, representing Eureka's One Curve At A Time, asked for local roadway improvements.
Future needs and challenges facing Missouri’s transportation system were the subject of a public forum Monday at the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) in Town and Country. Such forums will be held across the state throughout the spring and summer. Blue Ribbon Citizens Committee members on Missouri Transportation Needs are holding the meetings. Committee members were appointed by Missouri House Speaker Steven Tilley, R-Perryville, in early March. The 21-member panel consists of of business leaders, contractors and special interest groups from across the state. Members are looking for public input on future transportation needs and solutions. MoDOT, Metro and East-West Gateway all presented upcoming projects and transportation …
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
VIDEO: Look what a great memorial one Eureka resident did for two local women who died in auto accidents on Highway FF within about a half mile of each other. This roadway's crash rate is at least 25 percent more than state average for two-lane roads.
Raising awareness about road safety was what Saturday morning was about for a group of 70 Eureka volunteers. Most were acquainted with fatality victims on a personal level. Tim Schulte has known the Turnbo family of Eureka ever since they started attending Eureka United Methodist Church together more than a decade ago. He said he faced Saturday's dedication to the lives of auto accident victims Karen Turnbo and Kaela Archambault with "sadness about what happened but joy about what has come of it." Schulte is the director of Eureka United Methodist youth ministries. He served with Karen Turnbo before she was killed last September in a single-truck accident on Highway FF, saying she was a "reflection of God wherever she went." "I think Karen…
A huge emphasis on correcting dangerous portions of a local roadway was bittersweet for two individuals present at a Eureka gathering Saturday, for they already lost both parents to different auto accidents in the area. Petition can be signed.
Many more accidents and incidents than are counted occur on Highway FF just outside of Eureka, said Ty Bain Turnbo, who generally goes by Bain. This young Eureka resident should know. He and his sister, Bailey, lost both of their parents to separate auto accidents in a specific stretch of winding roadway that currently has a crash rate at least 25 percent over the statewide average for two-lane roads, according to Missouri Department of Transportation statistics. "Highway FF is not respected enough, and there are too many unknown variables," said Bain, whose mother, Karen Turnbo, died in September when the truck she was driving left the roadway and hit a tree. "You never know when someone's going to pull out in front of you because you can…
Monday, May 7, 2012
PHOTO GALLERY: Road safety improvements announced Saturday in Eureka. Trash pickup conducted to honor local victims whose lives were lost on Highway FF. New safety billboard unveiled.
What typically is a four- to five-year process for the average Missouri Department of Transportation project was just accomplished in about eight months, said MoDOT manager Judy Wagner on Saturday at a community gathering in Eureka. She announced Saturday that MoDOT plans to add shoulders to Highway FF and realign not just one, but three curves, on the dangerous road that has claimed at least three lives in the past four years. According to MoDOT statistics, Highway FF has a crash rate of at least 25 percent over the statewide average for a two-lane road. See Eureka-Wildwood Patch articles: SUV Crash with Rockwood Bus Kills Eureka High Grad, Injures Geggie Students, Bus Driver Eureka Business Woman Dies in Truck Crash The emotionally …
Locales know those two names associated with the lives of Eureka residents lost to the dangers of Highway FF. But near the intersection of Highways FF and W Saturday, there was an aura noticed by many at the dedication of a new safety billboard.
When the blue plastic cover rippled down off the new, large safety billboard Saturday near the intersection of Highways FF and W at Kirkwood Material Supply and revealed the beaming smile of Kaela Archambault, I admittedly teared up even though I was focused on taking photos of the unveiling and the crowds' reactions. It was a split second of both joy and pain. Seeing Kaela's face, I was immediately transported back to that November day when she lost her life not that many miles down the road, and I was on the scene of the accident. Missouri Highway patrol officers would not let media near the scene, but I was there when a SUV from the accident was hauled away. As a photojournalist, I snapped a shot, and was one of the few—if not the only …
JR
9:43 am on Sunday, December 9, 2012
This recent single vehicle accident mentioned, occurred on the other notorious Hwy FF in Lonedell (Franklin Co.), not Eureka. more ›