A section of Boyce Lane that crosses Plattin Creek in southern Jefferson County is closed from Jan. 12 through Aug. 31 to allow construction crews to install a new bridge.
The bridge will replace a low-water crossing commonly called “The Slab” on Boyce Lane between Hwy. TT and Plattin Road south of Festus.
The low-water crossing is impassable during flooding, forcing local residents and emergency service agencies like the Jefferson R-7 Fire Protection District and the Joachim-Plattin Ambulance District to detour several miles.
The Slab has also been the site of at least one drowning and several rescues, after swimmers attempted to “shoot the chute” through the crossing’s culvert pipes.
While a 2023 study showed about 272 cars make the crossing per day, which is average for county roads, vehicle traffic can obstruct the road during the summer when visitors play in the creek, officials said in a 2024 news report.
The bridge will elevate and straighten the road crossing the creek and is designed as a slab-on-pile, meaning a foundation of piles, or columns, driven deep underground will support the slab deck, which motorists drive on, according to design plans.
The Jefferson County Council voted in late 2023 to award the engineering contract for the project to Abna Engineering in St. Louis, and the design has gone through several changes over the past two years.
“The original design was a concrete slab like what is there now, with a small bumper to keep cars on the road,” Jefferson County Public Works Director Jason Jonas said. “We redesigned it to be more safe. We wanted it as high as possible for safety.”
The road will also be widened to 26 feet, and the creek banks will be stabilized to prevent erosion.
It will cost $2,030,671 to remove the low-water crossing and replace it with the bridge, according to a Dec. 22 Public Works Department statement.
PCX Construction, based in Arnold, was selected to complete the work and was the lowest of five bidders for the project.
The county will use American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to pay for 80 percent, or $1,624,536.80, of the project costs, and the other 20 percent, or $406,134.20, will be funded with part of the county’s share of revenue from the countywide 1/2-cent sales tax for road and bridge improvements, the Public Works Department reported.
The ARPA funds came from the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill Congress passed in March 2021 to help the U.S. recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The county received a total of $43.7 million in ARPA funds, with $27 million allocated in the 2025 budget. Some of the largest county projects funded with the federal dollars include work to bolster road infrastructure around the future James Hardie manufacturing plant to be built in Crystal City, and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office’s forensic crime lab recently built in Pevely.
Traffic will follow a signed detour around the closure while the crossing is replaced, Jonas said. From Hwy. 61, motorists may turn onto Plattin Road to access Boyce Lane south of the closure or turn onto Hwy. TT to access Boyce Lane north of the closure.
Amy Manns, transportation director for the Jefferson R-7 School District, said the road closure will mean a rerouting of one of the district’s daily buses.
“We typically go down Plattin Road, picking up along the way, then cross the creek at Boyce Lane and continue picking up at Huntington and Kensington (subdivisions),” she said. “This means the driver will have to go out Plattin, then backtrack and go down Boyce the other direction. It will only be the morning route affected, but it will make a difference. I’m not sure what it will do to the time.”