Jefferson County residents are being asked to weigh in on proposed improvements to a number of streets in Kimmswick during an upcoming public meeting.
That meeting will be held from 4-7 p.m. Thursday, April 6, at the Rock Memorial American Legion, 910 Montebello Road, in Imperial.
“We’re doing something a little different with this project,” said Jefferson County Public Works Director Jason Jonas. “We usually have a public hearing when we’re in the design process, about 35 percent of the way through it, but because of the issues with this particular project, we’re wanting to get public input on it at the beginning.”
The route scheduled for improvement takes in streets in the city of Kimmswick that are maintained by the county under contract.
The streets to be improved include Front Street from Windsor Harbor Road to Market Street, all of Market Street, a portion of Fourth Street from Market to Beckett Street and all of Fifth Street until it turns into Hwy. K, a state-maintained road.
The length of the project is about four-tenths of a mile.
“What makes this project different is that there is only so much space from building front (on one side of a street) to building front (on the opposite side of the street) and a lot to put in there – pedestrian access, on-street parking, traffic, stormwater drainage,” Jonas said. “We would like some input on what the public’s priorities are. Do they feel that on-street parking in front of businesses is important?
“The city’s opinions on these subjects obviously will carry a lot of weight, but we’d like to hear from the business owners and residents as well.”
He said the Crawford, Murphy and Tilly design firm in St. Louis will have some preliminary drawings to show at the open-house meeting.
“These are just proposals to get the discussion going,” Jonas said of the designs. “What makes this different is that it isn’t a cookie-cutter project. To some extent, when it comes to design, a bridge is a bridge, but there may be a number of options when it comes to this area. We’d like to hear about them before we start the process.”
The street improvements will cost an estimated $2.7 million, with 70 percent coming from the federal government and the rest from the county’s share of a one-half cent sales tax for road and bridge improvements.
Construction work is scheduled to begin in spring 2025.