The second part of Project Redbird, a multi-governmental effort to improve the transportation network around the former Festus Memorial Airport in Crystal City in preparation for the construction of the James Hardie manufacturing plant, will be completed on schedule later this year, project manager Lane Harness said.
Phase 1 was completed in December 2024, when construction crews rebuilt the aging and crumbling Airport Road and portions of Castle Acres Road, River Cement Road and Calvary Church Road, near Mercy Hospital Jefferson, to withstand heavy industrial traffic.
Harness, who works with the Jefferson County Department of Public Works, said Phase 2 projects began about a year ago, with construction projects “really picking up” late last year. Phase 2 is broken up into two parts, Harness said, north and south of Plattin Creek, and will expand on the improvements made in Phase 1.
The county used a $7.2 million grant from the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission that was included in the 2024 state budget to help pay for the Phase 1 construction costs. The county was required to provide a 100 percent local match for the grant and designated $7.25 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding for the project back in 2020.
Harness said any remaining funds from Phase 1 are being used in Phase 2, along with another $12 million set aside for the project in the state budget.
VFW Drive
In the northern part of Phase 2, Goodwin Brothers Construction crews are working to rebuild a portion of VFW Drive, from the St. Pius Spur to just beyond the Jefferson Memorial VFW Post 3777, 900 VFW Drive, and raise the road above the floodplain.
The road will be raised about 1 to 2 feet higher near St. Pius Drive and will be raised about 12 feet higher near the VFW hall’s pond, Harness said.
“It’s a large earthwork project,” he said. “If you come out here in the summertime, when we have good weather, you could come out, and by the end of the week, it could be 6 feet higher than before. We’re moving thousands of tons of material a day.”
North Phase 2 is about 35 to 40 percent completed, Harness said. This portion of Phase 2 will cost $7,307,747.55.
Harness said crews will work to finish the VFW Drive project by the end of the summer, to avoid traffic concerns with St. Pius. The crews have waited to start elevating the VFW Drive/St. Pius Spur intersection out of the floodplain until this summer, when school is out of session.
Three homes built along a sharp curve on VFW Drive are directly impacted by the roadwork, Harness said. Once the road is rebuilt, the portion of VFW Drive near the homes will be cut off, forming a sort of cul-de-sac for the homeowners, he said.
VFW Drive will be redirected and straightened at that sharp curve, allowing for easier maneuvering for any heavy vehicle traffic traveling the road, Harness said.
North Phase 2 also included building a new, short access road connecting VFW Drive to the end of Airport Road, where the James Hardie plant will be built. The access road was mostly finished last summer, Harness said, with some regrading work still to be completed.
Motorists are advised to use the new access road to avoid the VFW Drive closure at St. Pius Drive.
Once Project Redbird is completed, Harness said it’s not likely that the public will be able to use the north access road to connect from Airport Road to VFW Drive and vice versa. He said crews added a small section of temporary asphalt through the James Hardie site to allow motorists to get from Airport Road to the north access road, as part of the detour route, but once work is finished, the temporary road will be removed.
Harness said the detour route allows his crews to work safely and efficiently on VFW Drive.
“It’s a safer environment, because (motorists) are not driving through an active construction site,” he said. “We can build it all at once. It allows us to build not only safely, but also more quickly.”
Harness said crews put in a large box culvert under the new access road to allow waterflow through the area.
“We built (the culvert) in about 29 days, and it’s not precast,” Harness said. “A lot of times now, with boxes, they’ll make them and bring them out, but Goodwin Brothers actually formed that, placed the steel and poured it all. This was a very interesting process, but we were able to complete it, and it’s obviously holding up really well.”
Calvary Church Road
In the southern part of Phase 2, Goodwin Brothers will be connecting Calvary Church Road to Castle Acres Road, creating a new outer road that will connect to River Cement Road.
The largest part of South Phase 2 will be constructing a 235-foot bridge over Plattin Creek on the new portion of the outer road, Harness said. Construction on the concrete girder bridge will likely begin in late March or early April.
It will cost $3,721,594.81 to build the road and bridge. This portion of Phase 2 will likely be finished by the fall.
At the southern end of River Cement Road, where it meets Hwy. 61, a roundabout will be constructed to allow traffic to safely merge onto the highway. The roundabout is a Phase 3 project, Harness said, and the county will likely begin seeking bids for the project in the next few weeks, with construction expected to begin in July or August. The estimated cost to construct the roundabout is around $2.7 million, he said.
The new outer road and roundabout will give heavy vehicle traffic coming from the James Hardie site another way to access Hwy. 61 and I-55, Harness said.
Harness said South Phase 2 is about 10 percent complete. He said work began to clear the area of trees and grade the site late last year.
“You can see, if you’re driving south on I-55 (south of Festus), you’ll notice a giant, disturbed area,” Harness said. “The goal for that is to just create a connection that isn’t there, as development happens. That could be, obviously, Hardie. That could be potential subdivisions. As this area continues to grow, having that connection could be pivotal.”