ST. LOUIS — Drive along Interstate 44, you'll find all the signs of a construction zone: cones, work crews, and equipment. But someone who lives near the Tower Grove construction site on Interstate 44 has had enough of another byproduct: the noise.
"There was water shooting out of our hose, and that was a red flag that something wasn't right," crewmember Robert Leonard said.
Leonard works for MoDOT subcontractor Concrete Strategies. He said they usually arrive n the site at 6 a.m., spend an hour setting up and begin work around 7.
But Tuesday morning, they turned on one piece of equipment to find it wasn't working.
Next, they found a note.
"It said something along the lines of '7 a.m. is too early. Please respect our neighborhood,'" Leonard recalled, adding as he points down to the street "that narrows it down to... someone here real close."
Leonard said the crew is lucky they realized what happened before they powered up the high-pressure hoses. The water that pours out is strong enough to cut through concrete, so you can imagine what it would do to a person.
Max White and Tm Piazza live in the neighborhood. White describes the morning noise to the sound of a jackhammer, but they say it's necessary for community betterment.
"A normal complaint would have been a good thing to do," Piazza said. "Not an eco-terrorist thing."
Leonard said they may never know who cut their lines, but he's glad it wasn't worse.
"It's bad enough being on the highway, working around everybody, much less somebody sabotaging our work zone. It's really a shame," Leonard said.