Mizzou Athletic Department officials are estimating that about 50,000 fans will attend Saturday’s MU football opener at Faurot Field in Columbia.
Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) Central District traffic engineer Trent Brooks tells Missourinet you’ll see heavy traffic Saturday at I-70 and Highway 63 in Columbia.
“That’s a very busy intersection with people coming and going to the football games, and so we have signal timing that we have in place specifically for that and our controllers are programmed and ready to go,” Brooks says.
Brooks says MoDOT will have Columbia staff on standby Saturday for the Mizzou game for emergency maintenance and to assist the Missouri State Highway Patrol with traffic control, if needed.
Mizzou and Missouri State will kick off at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Mizzou Associate Athletic Director Chad Moller tells Missourinet they’re expecting about 50,000 fans on Saturday, adding that they hope for more “with beautiful weather in the forecast.”
The Mizzou Tigers take the field for a game against the University of Central Florida Knights at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri on September 13, 2014. UPI/Bill Greeblatt
MoDOT has been monitoring traffic signals at major Columbia intersections for several weeks, to ensure they’re operating properly.
Brooks says the agency is ready for the Mizzou opener.
“You know in Columbia really anything along College, Providence, most of the signals along Stadium, those are all state highways and we’re (MoDOT) responsible for how those signals operate and so we’ve been checking them,” says Brooks.
MoDOT is also warning motorists to expect an increase in traffic on Missouri’s interstates Friday and all weekend, because of the Labor Day holiday.
The agency will be suspending all construction work on interstates and major highways Friday at noon.
Work will resume Tuesday morning.
Click here to listen to the full interview between Missourinet’s Brian Hauswirth and MoDOT’s Trent Brooks, which was recorded on August 31, 2017: