Answer Man: Readers ask about mystery of the white globes along Ozark Mountain Highroad

On Wednesday afternoon, I was in the law office of Spencer Fane LLP working on one Answer Man question when Cheri Wright, who works there, asked me another.

Cheri asked about the white globes she sees during her commute to Springfield from her home near Branson. The globes dot the embankment along the Ozark Mountain Highroad.

Specifically — and it took me a while to figure this out — they are where the Highroad ends, at the northwest corner of the intersection of the Highroad and the Highway 76 overpass.

It's in Stone County. You drive by them on your way to Silver Dollar City.

A fellow by the name of Greg Gold, of Springfield, had asked me the same question in March.

I could tell you that sometimes I wait for an Answer Man question to age like a fine wine. But I'd be lying. 

I almost always want to see firsthand what people are talking about — even if they send me a photo, as Greg did. But it's sometimes difficult for me to find the time to drive to Stone County.

On Wednesday afternoon, the sun was shining and I had the time.

I drove right past them the first time because I was more focused on exiting onto Highway 76.

I actually spotted them from above, while on the Highway 76 overpass. 

They are a strange sight. About a hundred dot the steep embankment. From a distance, they look like mutant mushrooms sprouting from the slope.

On closer inspection, they are Styrofoam balls on rebar that is stuck in the ground.  Some of the balls are about 8 inches in diameter; others are about 5 inches. 

Some of the rebar has two Styrofoam balls; some have only one.

They were stuck there in 2014 as part of a study by Nathan Rohrbaugh, who was then a graduate student in geological engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, in Rolla, says Angela Eden, spokeswoman for the Missouri Department of Transportation.

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She tells me Rohrbaugh contacted MoDOT in 2014 and asked if he could do a study for the department.

This location was suggested by a MoDOT geologist, who has since retired, Eden says.

Study involved use of a laser

It was picked because it wasn't thought to be an area where erosion was ongoing, but where it had once been a concern, she tells me.

The student's study used LIDAR, which stands for Light Detection and Ranging. It's a way to use a laser for surveying purposes.

He set up a matrix of Styrofoam globes.

Eden did not know why some pieces of rebar have two globes and some have only one, or why the Styrofoam globes are different sizes.

Rohrbaugh should know.

Eden sent him an email and left him a voice message asking that he call me. I did not hear from him.

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Since 2014, Eden says, the slope has not shown signs of erosion, which is good news.

"A stable roadside means you have a stable roadbed," she says. 

I was on the embankment when I took photos; I can testify that it is steep.

When I returned to my car, which I had parked along westbound Highway 76, I met two people who had just parked there and also were interested in the globes.

The woman told me she had been wondering for years what they were and what their purpose was.

She thought they were possibly collecting solar energy. I told her they were Styrofoam.

Eden tells me she is asked regularly about them.

"One person wanted to know if someone had put them out there as some sort of joke," she says.

It's no joke, she says.

"We put them out there so we don't have to spend a lot of money in the future to fix an erosion problem."

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 Keep those questions coming. Send them to The Answer Man at 836-1253, spokin@gannett.com, on Twitter @stevepokinNL or by mail to 651 Boonville Ave., Springfield, MO 65806.