A portion of Antire Road will be closed from Monday, March 2, through June 15 to allow crews to reconstruct and straighten a sharp curve near Crestview Drive.
The closure is part of a larger project to widen a 1.19-mile portion of Antire Road, from Sunshine Drive in Peaceful Village to 400 feet north of Crestview Drive in High Ridge.
Public Works Director Jason Jonas said flagging operations will be in effect for motorists traveling on the portion of the project east of the Crestview Drive closure.
A signed detour route advises westbound motorists to take Nollman Road to Little Antire Road, then to Antire Road, to avoid the Crestview Drive closure. Eastbound motorists are advised to take Little Antire Road to Nollman Road to Antire Road, around the closure.
The road improvement project is expected to be completed within the next 120 working days, or by no later than Dec. 31. In addition to reconstructing the road near Crestview Drive, the project includes adding 4-foot shoulders to both sides of Antire Road, adding new edge line rumble strips, pouring new pavement and installing new guardrails.
About 1,800 motorists travel on Antire Road daily, according to a 2024 study conducted by the Public Works Department.
“There are a high number of injury crashes (on Antire),” Jonas said. “It will reduce the number of off-road crashes and reduce center-line crossover crashes. With this area being a good conduit up to I-44, it’s only going to increase in traffic volume over time.”
He said Public Works was awarded a grant through the East-West Gateway Council of Governments for the project.
Gershenson Construction Company in Eureka was the lowest of two bidders for the project, at $3,259,799. The East-West Gateway grant will pay for 80 percent, or $2,607,839.20, of the project, and the county will pay for the remaining 20 percent, or $651,959.80, with its share of a countywide 1/2-cent sales tax for road and bridge improvements.
Jonas said this project is Phase 1 in a four-phase plan to make safety improvements to Antire Road.
Phase 2 is in the design stage, Jonas said. This phase will add 4-5-foot shoulders on Antire Road from the St. Louis County line to the intersection of Jim Weber Road and Little Antire Road. He said it will be a couple of years before construction begins on Phase 2.
“There will be a couple year gap (between Phase 1 and 2),” he said. “We tend to like to let the dust settle a little bit; we don’t like to go year after year.”
Phase 3 will likely include additional shoulder work on Antire Road from Williams Creek Road to Nollman Road. Phase 4 will likely focus on the portion of Antire Road from the intersection of Jim Weber Road and Little Antire Road to just past Crestview Drive, Jonas said.