Chris Seago said he and his neighbors in the 5500 block of Old Lemay Ferry Road in Imperial do not understand why the county hasn’t included the section of road in front of their homes in its improvements plans for the area.
Jefferson County has received five federal grants to improve five sections of Old Lemay Ferry Road between the city of Arnold and Hwy. M in the Antonia area, Public Works Director Jason Jonas said.
He said the projects included in the plan, which will cost a total of about $16,050,000, were deemed priorities following the completion of a comprehensive county road safety plan in 2021.
The county has completed the construction of a roundabout at Old Lemay Ferry Road and Seckman Road, and it made improvements to Old Lemay Ferry Road between Spring Forest Road and East Rock Creek Road. The next federally-funded projects for Old Lemay Ferry Road include improvements between Regency Woods Place and Kneff Road; Vogel Road and Spring Forest Road; and East Rock Creek Road and Seckman Road.
The next three projects will not start until work near the Mastodon State Historic Site in Imperial is completed. The county is improving a 1-mile stretch of Seckman Road between the West Outer Road and the western entrance to the historic site.
“That safety plan analyzed every county road broken up into 1-mile segments,” he said. “It compared all of the crash history on each of those 1-mile segments and rated them in priority for potential projects. We have been working our way through that list of priorities.”
Jonas said the county has either completed, started or will start projects on 31 of 37 road segments identified as the highest priority and on 11 of 12 road segments that were on the wish list for safety improvements.
He said the approximate stretch in the 5500 block of Old Lemay Ferry Road was not part of the high priority list or the wish list.
Seago said the part of Old Lemay Ferry Road in front of his and his neighbor’s homes should be a high-priority project. The stretch where their homes are located is south of the roundabout that was built at Seckman Road and just north of the improvements that will be made between Regency Woods Place and Kneff Road.
Seago said since November 2019, at least nine traffic accidents have occurred in the 5500 block of Old Lemay Ferry, with some of the vehicles involved ending up in the yards of the homes along that stretch.
“I get the bureaucracy and red tape behind it, but when I see nine accidents in that short of a period of time, that would sent up some red flags and say, ‘Hey, we may need to take a look at this and get it on our priority list to get this fixed as well,’” he said.
Accidents
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and Missouri State Highway Patrol reported at least 18 accidents along Old Lemay Ferry Road from Seckman Road and Frisco Hill Road between January 2020 and December 2023. The 5500 block of Old Lemay Ferry Road lies between those two roads.
Of those 18 accidents, nine resulted in injuries, and at least two of the accidents led to vehicles causing damage at homes in the 5500 block of Old Lemay Ferry Road.
The Sheriff’s Office reported in April 2023 that an 18-year-old Imperial man was driving a 2019 Ford Mustang south on Old Lemay Ferry Road and attempted to pass two vehicles by using the northbound lane, despite postings near the road that say no passing, and collided with a 1991 Mazda B2200 driven by a 68-year-old Imperial man. The front of the Mustang hit the front of the Mazda pickup, and the car overturned on the road and struck a mailbox. Both drivers were transported to Mercy Hospital South in south St. Louis County, the report said.
In May 2023, the Sheriff’s Office reported that an 18-year-old Festus man driving a 2006 Pontiac G6 north on Old Lemay Ferry Road went off the right side of the road, hit a mailbox and a bush before the rear of the car struck a tree. The teenager was treated at the scene.
“From what we understand, (the accidents) for the most part are because of inattentive driving,” Seago said. “Typically, the drivers who are paying attention are not getting into accidents. It is the people who are driving recklessly or not paying attention who are getting into the accidents.”
Seago said the stretch of Old Lemay Ferry Road in front of his and his neighbor’s homes is relatively straight, but there are slopes that can lead to low visibility.
Jonas said the road is 22 feet wide, with each lane about 11 feet wide with no shoulders.
Seago said because their front yards are so close to the road, he and his neighbors are afraid to let their children play in them.
He said his fear was heightened on Jan. 12 when a 26-year-old Arnold woman driving a 2010 Mercury Milan south on Old Lemay Ferry Road rolled off the road and into a nearby yard. The woman and a boy in the car were injured.
Seago said one time a car almost hit his house.
“We are afraid to let our kid play in the front yard because cars keep ending up in it,” he said. “We don’t have birthday parties at our house anymore because we are afraid to have a bunch of kids who may get mowed down because a driver is not paying attention.”
Possible help
Jonas said the county expects to receive a road safety report from the East-West Gateway Council of Governments this summer, and it will pick up where the 2021 report left off.
“I believe their crash history is from mid-2019, about where we left off, through 2023 or 2022,” Jonas said. “They are looking at a crash history that pretty much takes off from where we left off. Without knowing what is in that report, there could be a crash history that floats that segment (the 5500 block of Old Lemay Ferry Road) to the top (of the priority list).”
Jonas said the county has plans for another project that calls for new asphalt to be laid over the sections of Old Lemay Ferry Road between Arnold and Hwy. M that are not part of the federally funded improvement projects. He said along with laying down new asphalt, rumble strips will be added to each side of the road in those areas to alert drivers they are nearing the edge of Old Lemay Ferry Road.
The asphalt overlay and addition of rumble strips will cost an estimated $495,000 and will include sections of Old Lemay Ferry Road between the city limits of Arnold to Vogel Road, from Seckman Road to Regency Woods Place, which includes the 5500 block of Old Lemay Ferry, and from Kneff Road to Hwy. M.
That work is projected to be completed in 2026, according to Jefferson County records.
“That helps people stay on the road,” Jonas said. “Even though there is no shoulder, when you hit those rumble strips you have about 6 inches before you exit the road. That helps keep the run-off-the-road crashes down. That will be a safety enhancement that has no grant funding. It is a locally funded project.”
Seago said he is glad something will be done, but he does not believe it is enough.
“For our yard and our neighbor’s yard, the rumble strips will help, but there needs to be something that would prevent an accident from coming into our yard,” he said. “To have a car almost hit our house is ridiculous. With as far back as we are, I wouldn’t expect it to be an issue.”