Preliminary work was scheduled to begin this week on the reconstruction of Main Street in House Springs.
Jefferson County Public Works Director Jason Jonas said crews from Kimes Contracting LLC of Hillsboro were to start the project, which involves the 550 feet of Main Street north of Church Street to Hwy. MM.
The project is designed to improve stormwater control with gutters. It also calls for the addition of sidewalks and lights on portions of the road.
Main Street connects Gravois Road and Hwy. MM.
“This is going to be an exciting project,” Jonas said. “It has a lot of problems that will be corrected.
“It’s a long straight path that’s relatively flat, so it has lots of drainage problems, with water ponding on the sides and in the middle of the street.
“So what we’re planning to do is reconstruct the road, which will be practical because it’s steadily eroded with all of the standing water over the years. We’ll be able to put in curbs and gutters and a closed drainage system for stormwater.”
Additional improvements include 5-foot-wide sidewalks on both sides of the road, crosswalks at each end, decorative sidewalk buffers and lighting.
“We’ll also address the on-street parking, which is now a mish-mash, to a more systematic approach,” he said. “This will make it more safe for both drivers and pedestrians.”
Crews from Kimes will be in the area starting this week removing a couple of trees and staging materials for the project, Jonas said, but motorists should expect partial road closures starting around Jan. 31.
“There will never be a complete closure, as the road work will be done in phases, and it won’t go on forever,” he said. “By late spring, maybe mid-May, all the road work should be done. We’ll have signage in the area to update people of the progress.”
The entire project is scheduled to be complete by June 6. About 6,866 vehicles go through Main Street in an average day, according to county records.
Kimes was the lowest of six bidders for the project for $599,553, with 80 percent of the cost paid for by the federal government and the rest through the county’s share of a countywide 1/2-cent sales tax for road and bridge improvements.