A portion of Sulphur Springs Road, which connects the Barnhart Quarry to Hwy. 61-67 in Imperial, will be elevated out of the 100-year floodplain and realigned out of the Glaize Creek stream buffer zone.
Residents living along the road said at the Sept. 9 Jefferson County Council meeting that the project was sorely needed.
The council voted 6-0 that day to use eminent domain to acquire temporary construction easements and permanent drainage easements along a portion of the road. Councilman Dan Stallman (District 6, De Soto) was absent from the meeting.
According to Public Works documents, the county anticipates beginning the bidding phase for the road project in January 2025 and seeing construction begin in the spring.
County officials did not have a cost estimate for the project, which includes raising an 800-foot portion of Sulphur Springs Road out of the 100-year floodplain and widening the road to two 12-foot lanes. The road will also be moved slightly out of the stream buffer zone for Glaize Creek, which traverses to the south of the road.
The county has entered into a contract with New Frontier Materials to share the cost of the road improvements. The construction materials company, based in Maryland Heights, operates out of the Barnhart Quarry, using Sulphur Springs Road to haul materials to the highway.
New Frontier Materials will pay 100 percent of the engineering costs and split the construction costs with the county, according to county documents.
The county’s share will be paid for with funds from the 1/2-cent countywide sales tax for road and bridge improvements.
Jodi Litvinov, who has lived with her husband, Mike, on Sulphur Springs Road for 14 years, said the road project was long overdue.
“When we purchased our home in 2010, we were aware that the creek flooded over Sulphur Springs Road out by Hwy. 61-67, and we were told it had flooded over and closed the road twice, once in 1975 and once in 1993,” she said. “Both were historic floods. However, since moving into our homes, the road has flooded and closed seven times in the past almost 15 years.”
Litvinov said the area experienced flooding in 2019 like it did in 1993, and for more than a month, no one could drive in or out of Sulphur Springs Road and had to use boats to leave their houses.
“The flooded water causes safety and health concerns,” Litvinov said. “It traps our elderly and children in because they are not able to safely boat in and out. If there is an emergency, whether medically related or a fire, no emergency vehicles can drive down our road when it is closed due to flooding.”
Monica Hoch, a nearby resident who lives on Kennerly Lane, had a different opinion.
She said the road project feels like a way to appease New Frontier Materials.
“I’m against the use of eminent domain,” she said. “To me, it looks like you’re putting the road in for the quarry and the residents are just an afterthought – a convenient one because that makes eminent domain more possible. There are lots of ways to show love to Sulphur Springs and taking somebody’s property as an afterthought to us just doesn’t feel like the best way to do it.”
Regardless of the reason the county is pursuing the road improvement project, Litvinov said she’s happy to see it finally put into motion.
“This new road is not a want; it is a necessity to keep the residents of Sulphur Springs safe,” she said.