Arnold residents should soon see crews working all around the city.
Work to build a retaining wall off Church Road in Arnold will start soon.
In addition, Arnold officials recently awarded three contracts for a total of $911,589 for three projects – one for a study of the intersection at Missouri State and Lonedell roads, another for stormwater improvements and the third for repairs to a retention pond.
Church Road
At the Sept. 7 City Council meeting, Arnold Public Works Director Judy Wagner provided an update on the Church Road retaining wall project that has been delayed for several months, ever since the wall was torn down.
Wagner said work on the retaining wall is expected to begin again near the end of October or the beginning of November.
In March, council members voted to pay Keeley Construction Group of St. Louis $912,353.20 to tear down and replace the retaining wall on Church Road across the street from Lowe’s, 920 Arnold Commons Drive, and near Stardust Drive. That contract also called for the company to replace the gutter and inlet that is behind the top of a retaining wall on Arnold Tenbrook Road near Friend Tree Lane.
Keeley employees removed the buckling Church Road retaining wall in June, but the project was halted because of the unexpected conditions behind the previous wall.
“Once the blocks were removed, we realized there were dirt and mud seams instead of solid rock,” Wagner said. “In our design, the assumption was we were going to have a rock face that we could drill anchors into to cast and place a wall. Those anchors would hold the wall back.”
Wagner said before the wall was removed, three soil borings were taken from the top of the wall that went down about 30 feet each.
She said the results of that drilling indicated there was primarily limestone along the hillside.
“Until you remove the wall, you don’t see what is behind there,” she said.
Wagner said she started meeting with the construction company, engineers and geologists in late June to devise a new plan to build the retaining wall.
“We evaluated the field conditions and met with numerous people in the field to determine a different type of wall system that we could use,” she said. “In early August, we determined the final wall type that we were going to go with and the shoring that would be required.”
The new design calls for large blocks of various depths that will stack on top of each other and be held together by their weights and shoring behind the wall, Wagner said.
“The bottom will have blocks that are 9-feet deep, and as you go up, the blocks will become smaller,” she said. “It will take three to five weeks for the wall’s blocks to be created.”
Wagner said the city expects work to make the blocks will start the week of Sept. 18, and before the blocks are delivered, Keeley will begin to excavate the area to prepare for the installation.
She said depending on weather conditions, the excavation process will take about two weeks, and the installation of the wall should take about three weeks.
Wagner said the retaining wall may be in place by early December.
“The good thing is that this can be done in cold weather,” Wagner said. “Everything will depend on the weather and the contractor’s schedule.”
Wagner said the right-side eastbound lane on Church Road, which has been closed since June, will remain closed until the wall is constructed, but there should not be any more lane closures on the road.
“They should be able to work behind the barrier wall,” she said.
Wagner also said the city is not expected to pay more than the $912,353.20 contracted for the wall.
She said it took nearly three months to develop a new construction plan because of scheduling conflicts among the construction company, engineer and geologist.
“It would be wonderful if I had at our beck and call to where I could say, ‘Let’s do this or that and redesign,’” Wagner said. “We were meeting as soon as possible with the parties to make our decisions, and the big thing was finding a solution that was within our budget.”
Missouri State-Lonedell intersection
Also on Sept. 7, Council members voted 5-0 to award a contract for up $150,000 to Cochran Engineering of St. Louis to study the intersection at Missouri State and Lonedell roads and determine how to improve the intersection.
The city paid Mike Graham, owner of CDM Lawn and Garden Equipment, $320,000 to purchase his business and land at 1555 Missouri State Road, which is near the intersection, to allow for the improvements.
Wagner said Cochran will evaluate traffic counts and volume at the intersection and provide traffic projections for the use of the roads.
Lonedell Road currently has a stop sign where it intersects at a T with Missouri State Road, which does not have any traffic signals where the roads meet.
Wagner said options to improve the intersection include adding a left-turn lane from Missouri State Road to Lonedell Road, erecting traffic signals or installing a roundabout.
“I want to get an evaluation to see what is feasible,” she said. “The main intent of this preliminary engineering is to see if we can lower the crest of the hill.
'Right now, as you come up, it kind of jumps up at Kirkham (Drive) there. We want to evaluate that profile grade there to see if we can lower it from 2 to 4 feet to help optimize the sight distance in that area.”
Wagner said until a solution is determined, she cannot predict how much the improvement project will cost. She did say adding a turn lane would be the least expensive option, and the addition of traffic signals would be the most expensive option.
“There is a big difference in prices,” she said.
Wagner said the city expects the study to be completed in time for Arnold to apply for a grant from the East-West Gateway Council of Governments in February to help fund the project.
Stormwater
Council members also voted 5-0 on Sept. 7 to hire PCX Construction of Arnold to complete two stormwater projects. The city will pay the company $730,289 for that work.
One of the projects will improve the stormwater drainage from Christ Drive to A Street, both off Starling Airport Road.
Wagner said water from Washington Drive and the Mount Vernon subdivision, which are near Christ Drive, drains into the 553 Christ Drive property and then flows through yards on Christ Drive and Maple Meadows Drive to A Street.
She said PCX will install a new stormwater pipe at 553 Christ Drive, which will run under that property, Christ Drive and yards on Maple Meadows Drive to A Street. The water will then flow into a creek.
“It is basically enclosing open ditches that are in people’s side yards and backyards,” Wagner said. “It will be so much nicer.
“One home will get its driveway back because over time it has sunk and been broken up.
“The other folks said it is like white river rafting going through their yards during heavy rains.
“They will be able to use their yards because the water will drain away safely underground instead of on the surface. Most of the residents are very excited to get this project going.”
PCX also will install a stormwater basin at 456 June Drive to collect water from that subdivision. The city purchased the June Drive property, which had a home that was condemned and torn down, for $3,000, in July.
Wagner said stormwater from about four to five houses will be directed to the basin, and a pump system will be installed to disperse the water to the stormwater system on June Drive that will then direct the water to inlets on Starling Airport Road.
“Depending on the weather and if (PSX) finishes another job, they will start June Drive this fall,” Wagner said. “They may be able to start the Christ Drive project this year as well, depending on the weather.
“Unless there is a very mild winter, (the Christ Drive project) will not be completed until the spring 2024.”
PSX submitted the lowest of four bids for the stormwater project.
Retention pond
Council members voted 5-0 on Sept. 7 to pay $31,300 to Fred M. Luth and Sons in St. Louis to fix the Evergreen Subdivision Detention Basin off of Key West Drive.
The basin serves five properties, including the Arnold Food Pantry and Circle K gas station near the corner of Key West Drive and the West Outer Road.
Wagner said the property owners will repay the city for the work, which includes maintenance work on the retention pond and the installation of a drainage pipe that leads to a nearby creek.
“They will then put in a new pipe, and they will seed and straw or sod it to make it maintainable for the future,” she said.
Wagner said work is expected to begin near the end of this month and take a couple of weeks to complete.