VICHY  — Missouri’s Department of Transportation is looking into a Vichy family’s request that a bus-stop warning sign be posted along U.S. 63 near their home on the north end of town.

Preston Kramer, a Central District engineer for MoDOT, said Tuesday he was following up on information provided by The Maries County Advocate which shared concerns expressed by Stephanie Gromowski. Kramer, citing turnover at MoDOT, said a request for a warning sign may have been missed.

“I have two boys, 13- and 11-years-old, in (Bland) Middle School, and two kids 7- and 6 -years-old, that go to the (Belle) Elementary School,” said Gromowski, mother of five. “The last little guy is four and still at home.”

Stephanie and husband Brett Gromowski live on Highway 63 across from a bank.

A driver traveling southbound toward Rolla would have to stop at the bottom of a hill around a blind curve. A driver traveling in the northbound lane from Rolla towards Vichy would be driving around a curve, forced to come to a stop.

“People fly around that corner,” Gromowski said. “There is no way to see around that corner at all. There is no way to see there is a stopped vehicle, whether a school bus or not.”

The Gromowski children ride the district school bus to and from school with bus driver Dave Thompson. Thompson traditionally tries to drop the children off in the south bound lane, preventing them from having to cross the roadway on such a dangerous curve.

Gromowski said it was early in March that her children came home and told her they had crossed the road when they exited the school bus.

“I about had a heart attack that they crossed the highway,” Gromowski said. “I called the school.”

She said she first approached the school in March about the crossing incident. She said a school transporation official told her the district had requested MoDOT provide warning signs about the bus pick-up location.

“This is the first I have heard of it,” Kramer said on Tuesday. “I sent an email to the traffic folks — I am assuming one of them took the request.”

Krammer added that from March to November does seem like a really long time to wait on the sign.

“Usually the school contacts us and says ‘we would like to have a school bus loading sign at location, meets junction,’” Kramer said.

Someone from MoDOT would then come out to inspect the site. If the request is justified, the traffic study specialist puts in the order.

“We get these requests all the time,” Kramer said, adding that requests to the proper personnel are turned into reports and given to specialists to investigate. “We don’t have a record of the request for that location.”

The whole process usually takes around 90 days. Kramer said Garrett Depue is now the traffic study specialist on the case and would promptly contact the Belle school district. 

“I have told them to get back with me as soon as possible,” Kramer said. “If at all possible, if they can get me that information today, I will let you know.”

Gromowski has reason for concern as a series of bus stop fatalities have made national news in recent weeks.

On Oct. 31 in Rochester, Ind., three siblings including a 9-year-old and her 6-year-old twin brothers were killed by a passing motorist while waiting at their assigned bus stop. A fourth child was left seriously injured.

According to the police in that case, the children were crossing the road to board their bus when the incident occurred.

A separate incident Nov. 1 in Florida resulted in one child critically injured, and four others with serious injuries after being hit by a car at their bus stop. Witnessess said the car was driving too fast when it struck two adults and three children, according to reporting by the Associated Press. 

According to a AAA report released Nov. 13, school bus crashes increased 3 percent in Virginia, as death tolls reach 14 for the year.

“There have been almost incidents,” Gromowski said about the bus stop on Highway 63. “But not accidents yet. It’s a little busy right there in the morning going and coming from work.”

She spoke with Maries R-2 Transportation Director Tony Gieck. It was then Gromowski was informed the actual bus stop did require her children to cross Highway 63 to board.

“My understanding is it is the transportation (operator’s) decision to pick up on our side of the highway because it is safer,” she said. “They mentioned they had been trying to get MoDOT to put up a school bus sign for quite a while now and that he (the driver) would continue to go back to picking the kids up and dropping them off on our side of the road.”

However, a sign was not forthcoming. When the Gromowski children finished the 2017-18 school year in May, the family relocated. Gromowski said they recently returned home.

“The kids started riding the bus again a week before last,” Gieck said.

Gromowski immediately contacted the school about the dangerous stop, asking if a sign could be placed.

“I told her I tried to get one last year, and I didn’t get one,” Gieck said. “It’s the potential (for an accident); nothing has happened yet.”

Gieck added that he would like to have (the sign) in the southbound lane so it would be seen by drivers traveling from Vichy to Rolla.

“The school says they have been trying and trying to request the sign and get someone to come out and look to see if it qualifies,” Gromowski said. “They said I could always maybe try myself to see if it would help.”

Willing to try, Gromowski did just that, but found herself with little to no resolution.

“Every time they told me they can’t discuss it with me and it has to go through the school,” she said. “I am not sure why. It doesn’t make sense to me and I have even forced their time on the phone, ‘please get someone to come look at this, it’s a terrible intersection.’ It is just crazy.”

She also asked why it was taking someone so long to come and look at the drive, and what she or the school could do to get things moving faster.

“My kids have to ride the school bus; I have no choice,” Gromowski said.

Belle Elementary School Principal Vanessa Feeler said Friday they didn’t know where else to turn.

“Our goal is all students arrive to school safely,” Feeler said. “We are looking for a solution to an unsafe bus stop.”

Gieck said he is also concerned about drivers not paying attention to bus stops.

“We have six or seven drivers that are running the (bus-arm) stop signs on Highway 28,” the transportation director said. “Beware. Put your phone down and pay attention. It’s a big, yellow bus with flashing lights.”