Arnold has hired a contractor to improve the intersection at Richardson and Old Lemay Ferry roads.
City Council members voted unanimously Dec. 18 to hire Jokerst Inc. of Ste. Genevieve to complete the federally-funded $499,513.09 project.
James Pogorzelski, interim Public Works Department director, said Jokerst submitted the lowest of 10 bids for the project.
Arnold received a grant from the East-West Gateway Council of Governments that will pay for $399,610.47, or about 80 percent, of the project, and the city will pay $99,902.62, or about 20 percent.
Jokerst is expected to start work at the intersection in the spring. The improvements are expected to be completed by Sept. 15, according to council documents.
The intersection will be realigned about 200 feet south of where Richardson and Old Lemay Ferry currently connect, creating a 90-degree turn instead of the current Y-turn configuration.
“It will not back up as far down Richardson Road, and it will make sight distance a lot better,” Pogorzelski said. “Often times with that weird angle, people have to turn to the left and look behind them. When you look to the right, a lot of times the vegetation has grown out, and now, it will move them up hill to a straighter stretch of the road so you will not have the sight-distance issues.”
He said the approximately 200-foot stretch of Richardson Road is expected to be closed from June 1 through Aug. 15 during the project. Old Lemay Ferry Road will remain open during that time, and the city will announce detour routes closer to the closure date.
“The road will be shut down after school is out, and it will reopen before school opens back up,” Pogorzelski said.
There also will be dedicated left- and right-turn lanes added to Richardson Road, which should make it easier for drivers to turn north or south onto Old Lemay Ferry Road.
“Old Lemay Ferry is one of our busiest roads,” Pogorzelski said. “Currently, the cars going left onto Old Lemay Ferry off Richardson have to go at slow speeds to make that sharp turn. Now, it will be a more gradual turn to go left and a gradual turn to go right.”
A stormwater pipe that runs under Richardson Road will be replaced during the project.
“The pipe that is there now is corrugated metal, and the bottom of it is gone,” Pogorzelski said.
The intersection improvement has been in the works for a while.
In November 2022, Arnold entered a Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality agreement with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission, MoDOT’s governing body, to secure the grant from the East-West Gateway Council of Governments.
“We have been waiting for this for a long time,” Ward 2 Councilman Brian McArthur said. “It is going to make that intersection so much safer. You take your life in your hands trying to make that left-hand turn.”