Work to improve High Ridge Boulevard is on target to be completed sometime in April, Jefferson County Public Works Director Jason Jonas said.
He said the construction project, which began in August 2023, is about 70 percent complete.
“Progress is really going very well,” Jonas said. “The storm sewers are in, and those are the hardest part, because they go under the ground.”
The project also involves installing sidewalks and streetlights along an approximately 4,500-foot-long stretch of the road that includes restaurants and other businesses, the High Ridge Post Office, the High Ridge Fire Protection District, the High Ridge Elementary School, and, at the southern end, the Northwest Branch of the Jefferson County Library.
Jonas said the contractor, Infrastructure Management Inc., in St. Louis, is now working on installing bases for the streetlights.
“They’re about 50 percent done with the bases and the conduit involved,” he said.
He said once the weather is more predictably warm and dry, the sidewalks will be poured.
“They should have all the lights completed by that time,” he said.
Jonas said a 5-foot sidewalk from High Ridge Boulevard along Community Lane that ties into entrances to the elementary school and a new walking trail at the High Ridge Civic Center has been completed.
The Jefferson County Council voted unanimously Jan. 29 to approve a $46,312 change order for the project, bringing the total cost to $2,693,865. Federal funds will cover 65 percent of the cost, and the county will cover the rest with its share of a countywide 1/2-cent sales tax for road and bridge improvements.
Jonas said much of the change order paid for extending the Community Lane sidewalk to connect with the trail at the High Ridge Civic Center. He said the trail was not planned when the High Ridge Boulevard project was engineered, but county officials thought it would be a good addition.
The rest of the change order dealt with a curve along High Ridge Boulevard at Antire Road.
Jonas said the curve is at a sharp slope that leads to a small creek.
“Originally, we thought about building a retaining wall there, but we figured a rock slope with a fence to keep people from falling off would be better and less expensive,” he said.
The change order also allows the original chain-link fence to be swapped out for a black, wrought-iron barrier.
“It was an oversight,” Jonas said of the chain-link fence. “If you go to De Soto, Hillsboro, other areas, you see the wrought-iron fences, and they are aesthetically pleasing. A chain-link fence has its uses, but not for this type of project.”
Jonas said the change of fence cost about $12,100.