CON V ERGING CA MPUS & COMMUNIT Y
NORTHWEST MISSOURIAN THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2024
MARYVILLE, MISSOURI
NWMISSOURINEWS.COM
VOL. 112, NO. 27
@THEMISSOURIAN
Dieterich residents moved to Millikan next year
DAKOTA OSWALT Asst. News Editor | @doswalt_NWMSRN
Portions of U.S. Highway 71 to undergo repairs HANNAH CLAYWELL News Editor | @Hannah_9504
U
.S. Highway 71 is undergoing work for resurfacing some portions of the highway from Maryville to Savannah. The process began April 2. Herzog Contracting Corp. in Saint Joseph is working with the Missouri Department of Transportation on the project and it will impact both the northbound and southbound lanes. The contract in total is $15,942,976.24 and this cost includes another project that will happen in Andrew County. Krista Strong is the resident engineer at the Maryville Project Office for MoDOT working on this project. She said the workers are on a section northbound from Pumpkin Center to Maryville and should take around a month to finish. Right now, the workers are milling out two inches, which means cutting out two inches of pavement, and then coming back to put in two, two-inch lifts for four inches of new pavement in total. The contractor does have other obligations, so after getting the first section done, they plan on leaving and coming back to finish the other sections after July 4. “There’s two more sections northbound and then two more sections southbound,” Strong said. Strong said the project is a long process and many departments were in-
volved in getting it started. Projects like this start with project identification and looking at different needs and public comments on the conditions of roads and highways. The next step takes it through a pavement specialist, where they look at the different projects that have been submitted and see what needs to be done. Local planning partners, such as the Northwest Regional Council in Maryville, start to work with the others on the project, then it can be put onto the Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan. “Once they’re done, they submit it to (Jefferson) City,” Strong said. “The contractors can review and bid on projects they’re interested in.” Projects can be in Jefferson City for a couple of years, moving around before the design department starts working on a plan for the project. After that, it is just a matter of keeping an eye on everything to make sure it is going smoothly, according to plan and staying within the budget. Strong said the importance of making these improvements to the highway is to make traveling smoother for the public. SEE HIGHWAY | A4
ILLUSTRATION BY SAVANNAH ATHY-SEDBROOK DESIGN EDITOR
AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1914.
Dieterich Hall residents will be moving to Millikan Hall for the 2024-25 school year. Students who had previously registered for housing in Dieterich Hall for the 2024-25 school year received an email April 3 with instructions on changing housing assignments to Millikan Hall. Rose Viau, the assistant vice president for student affairs for Residential and Auxiliary Services, said this decision had been considered for the past couple of months before it was ultimately decided. She said this transition will possibly be a more permanent situation, as Millikan Hall is in better shape, has fewer maintenance requests and saves the University more money on utility bills in comparison to Dieterich Hall, despite both buildings being constructed in 1971. She said the University is still looking for a longer-term plan in regard to Phillips Hall and North Complex being torn down in 2023, and that there are potential plans to demolish Dieterich Hall as well. So, moving students into Millikan Hall would be a first step in that process and in the meantime, give students a more practical building to live in.
SEE HOUSING | A4
Apartments rendered unlivable, tenants face difficulties ANNA BAILEY News Reporter | @AmBailey16
This semester, two apartment buildings in town have been made unlivable, due to a fire and structural issues, displacing many students and community members. These buildings are the University Point Apartments, managed by the Orion Property Group LLC, and apartments above CarQuest Auto Parts which are managed by Guardian Property Management LLC. The University Point Apartments had a fire March 23 that lasted seven hours due to outdated constructional methods. Following the fire at the University Point Apartments, all of the residents of the 16-unit building had to find an alternative place to stay. Once the fire was put out, residents were able to go back into the building to find any belongings that were not ruined. While doing this, two volunteers from the American Red Cross were active on the site helping any resident who needed it. American Red Cross Volunteers Lori Harris and Shoba Brown were the only two volunteers from the American Red Cross helping the individuals who now didn’t have a place to live. Brown said most of the residents were Northwest students.
SEE APARTMENTS | A4
PLEASE
RECYCLE