A section of Dulin Creek Road in House Springs will be partially closed to traffic for construction beginning Monday, Feb. 17.
Traffic will be limited to one lane for a mile-long portion of the road from Local Hillsboro Road to Meyer Lane as crews work to clear trees alongside the road. The partial lane closure is anticipated to last through the end of March.
Project manager Bob Russell of the Jefferson County Public Works Department said the tree-clearing is Part 1 of a three-phase project to make Dulin Creek Road safer for motorists.
In early April, crews from Public Water Supply District 8 will work to relocate a water main, which Russell estimates will take a few months. The road will fully reopen as the water main is relocated, he said.
In late May or early June, Dulin Creek Road will again be partially closed to traffic to allow crews to resurface the road and add 4-foot paved shoulders and edge line and centerline rumble strips. New striping, signage and guardrails are also included in the project, Russell said.
He said traffic will drop to one lane as crews work on sections of the mile-long stretch, with flaggers in place to direct motorists.
The entire project should be completed by December, Russell said.
“(Dulin Creek Road) is fairly typical of a lot of our roads. There are no shoulders, and there was a safety study done on it, and there were numerous accidents in the area,” he said. “A lot of the accidents consist of cars going off the edge of the road and then either hitting a tree or oversteering and shooting back across the other lane of traffic. With this project, we’re putting 4-foot shoulders on both sides, so hopefully, when someone comes to the edge of the road, they’re going to hit rumble strips, and then they still have a shoulder to catch themselves before running off into the ditch.”
The Jefferson County Council voted unanimously on Dec. 9 to award a $2,285,330 contract to Gershenson Construction Co. Inc. in Eureka to complete the project. The company submitted the lowest of three bids for the project.
Federal funding will cover 80 percent, or $1,828,264, of the costs to complete the project, with the county covering the remaining 20 percent, or $457,066, using revenue from its share of a countywide 1/2-cent sales tax for road and bridge improvements.
Russell said Dulin Creek Road is a low-volume road, with approximately 700 cars using it daily. Public Works has notified local fire, ambulance and school districts, along with Jefferson County 911 Dispatch and the Sheriff’s Office, about the possibility of delays due to the partial closure, he said.
“We ask that motorists please be patient and anticipate minor delays,” Russell said.