The dominoes have begun to fall, in a small, but positive way, for the M2M: Twin Cities Great Streets Plan, after the Festus City Council recently approved design work to improve its Second Street parking lot.
Festus and Crystal City officials teamed up in 2022 to commission the M2M study, which was completed late that year and explored ways to improve the downtown areas in both towns.
The Festus City Council voted unanimously June 26 to award a $57,362 contract to Cochran Engineering to redesign the city’s South Second Street parking lot.
The total cost to renovate the parking lot is projected at $679,740.
City Administrator Greg Camp said the construction phase for the parking lot improvements would not begin until after the start of the city’s new fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1.
“(The engineering) is in preparation for the work, so we can hit the ground running,” he said.
The M2M plan was designed to find ways to improve roads and other infrastructure from Crystal City Hall to Festus City Hall, a 1.5 mile stretch from Mississippi Avenue to Bailey Road in Crystal City to Main Street in Festus, as well as surrounding areas.
The study was part of the Great Streets Initiative and was funded through a federal grant program administered by the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, which coordinates road projects in the St. Louis area.
Among the M2M plan’s suggestions are to widen sidewalks on Main Street in Festus, which could affect the amount of available parking.
Matt Unrein, assistant city administrator and public works director for Festus, said city officials are following the M2M plan’s advice of starting with the parking lot on South Second Street.
“The idea was this would fix the parking situation so that we can then turn our focus to fixing Main Street,” Unrein said.