Construction of the first phase of work on Lions Den Road in Imperial is nearly complete, Jefferson County Public Works director Bill Koehrer said.
The construction, which includes the portion of Lions Den Road from Old Lemay Ferry Road west to the first bridge on Lions Den, is the first of four phases of work. The entire project is scheduled to be completed by 2009.
All the phases of the project focus on the vertical and horizontal alignment of the road, Koehrer said. Improvements to make the road safer include eliminating curves, dips and blind spots, he said.
Koehrer said the only work remaining on phase one is paving a driveway and some seeding. He said on Oct. 4 he expected the work to be complete within a month.
Koehrer said construction of phase two, which will include the portion of Lions Den from the bridge to Lions Den Camp, should begin in 2007. “We are still in the process of acquiring the necessary land (for the realignment),” he said. “We hope to finish that this year and let the contract early next year.”
Construction on the third phase is set to begin in 2008 and will improve the section of Lions Den from Lions Den Camp to Binning Road.
The final phase will run from Binning Road to Old Hwy. 21. Overall, the improvements will cost an estimated $10.5 million, with $6.7 million in federal grants and $3.7 in local funds.
Progress is also being made on improvements to Seckman Road, Koehrer said.
He said work on Seckman Road has taken longer than the construction on Lions Den. With Seckman Road utilities had to be relocated, he said.
Koehrer said Lions Den Road was rebuilt next to the existing road.
“We never really shut down traffic (on Lions Den) except for a short time for blasting,” he said.
Koehrer said on Seckman Road, a road parallel to the existing road was built to redirect traffic, so the existing road could be rebuilt.
“It is twice as much work (as Lions Den) plus utility relocation,” he said.
Koehrer said work on Seckman Road from Frisco Hill to Windmill Road is about 80 percent complete. “We have one lane to rebuild from Prairie Hollow down to Windmill,” he said.
The other lanes have been completed, he said.
Construction could be finished late this year or early next year, Koehrer said.
Work also is under way on the portion of Seckman Road form Windmill Road to the Mastodon Historic Site.
Koehrer said relocating utility wires has taken longer than expected, but he expects work to be finished in 2007.
He said that is the last section of Seckman Road currently under contract.
“We are trying to finish all the permits for the section through the Mastodon Historic Site,” he said. “We hope to let the contract early next year.”
