A project to reconstruct Main Street in House Springs is almost finished.
Jefferson County Public Works Director Jason Jonas said crews from Kimes Contracting LLC in Hillsboro are a couple of weeks away from completing improvements along about 700 feet of Main Street from north of Church Street to Hwy. MM. The project includes the installation of gutters to improve stormwater control, as well new sidewalks, lights and pavements on portions of the road.
“All that’s left to go is the street lighting,” Jonas said. “We’re waiting for the pole delivery, about seven or eight poles. The conduit is already in, so all they have to do is set the poles and connect them. There might be minor flagging (to direct traffic away from work), but it will be done in non-peak hours.”
Main Street connects Gravois Road and Hwy. MM.
Jonas said major reconstruction occurred from Jan. 31 to April 18, when the road was closed to through traffic.
During that phase, curbs and gutters and a stormwater drainage system were put in, as well as sidewalks, improvements to on-street parking and crosswalks on both ends.
“This is a great project,” Jonas said. “I think it’s easy to forget how bad of shape this street was in. Because there was no stormwater (control), water would pond on the street and would get under the surface and just undermine the surface. With all the changes, that will never happen again.”
However, Jonas said, the reaction to the project hasn’t necessarily been entirely positive.
“For some people, a full closure for a road project can cause some difficulties and heartburn, but it was closed for 11 weeks, and I think that’s really good,” he said. “I’m proud of the contractor for wrapping that portion up so quickly, especially given all the rain and even a couple of snowstorms we had during that period.”
However, the county did get some complaints about the project, Jonas said.
“We’ve taken a few phone calls. One person had a very useful recommendation on how we could make the detour more efficient, which we put into practice. Another did not like that we had to have a detour, but once I explained to him that it would be weeks, not four or five months, he seemed satisfied,” he said.
Jonas said he was visiting the site one time and a Kimes manager told him not to drive in a certain portion because screws had been scattered along the road, which could puncture a tire.
“I asked whether they accidentally dropped a box of screws, but I was told that someone had thrown them out there and they needed to clean them off. Why, we don’t know,” Jonas said.
“I do know that union representatives had spoken with Kimes about whether there were union workers on the job, but there were never any protests, and there were no threats made to either the county or the contractor.”
Kimes was the lowest of six bidders for the project for $599,553, with 80 percent of the cost covered with federal funds and the rest from the county’s share of a countywide 1/2-cent sales tax for road and bridge improvements.
On April 25, the Jefferson County Council approved a change order for the project, adding $15,960 to the total cost.
“We ran into some subsurface issues. The road was pretty rotted out in places, and the subsurface was a soft, kind of gooey soil that needed to be excavated,” Jonas said.