MoDOT to Build New Sidewalks on Lemay Ferry Road

The Missouri Department of Transportation(MoDOT) released a new project at a public meeting Wednesday that will build sidewalks on Lemay Ferry Road from Buckley to Lindbergh in compliance with ADA standards.

The sidewalks will be on the east side of Lemay Ferry and will be 6 feet wide with wheelchair access. The project, estimated to cost $1 million, will be federally funded.

MoDOT will be taking bids from contractors in September and hope to start construction in October for completion by January, or in the spring if weather delays progress, said Kristy Yates, MoDOT’s area engineer.

Aside from new sidewalks, the modification will improve Metro bus stops along the route, widening their platforms and making them ADA compliant. 

“The sidewalks now are hit and miss,” said Mary Chubb, who attended the public meeting Wednesday at Lemay Urgent Care. “Some are sloped, narrow and have weeds growing, it’s not a smooth area.”

Yates said MoDOT has been working on the project for more than a year.  The project manager, Shirley Norris, said the construction’s disruption on Lemay Ferry Road would be minimal.

“We’ll have to close one lane, but we’ll work with the contractors to set it at off-peak hours,” Norris said. “The toughest part will be the driveways along the route. We’re counting on the contractors to work with residents to access one lane of their driveways during construction.”

Norris said contractors will also work to avoid blocking the entrance and exits of Mehlville High School during school beginning and end times.

“Students will be safer walking to school at Mehlville,” said Cindy Blest, a Mehlville resident who attended the meeting. “With all of the new development in St. Charles, I don’t want this area to get left behind. I want to see this area stay as nice as it’s always been here.”

The islands at each intersection from Buckley to Lindbergh will also get ramps and traffic push button signals that can be accessed by a person in a wheelchair.  The signals will have a timer counting down seconds remaining at the light.

Yates said she has been hearing from residents, businesses and organizations about the lack of sidewalks in the area for years.

One such group is the Metropolitan Congregations United (MCU), a multi-denominational organization that strives to improve the community for its residents.

“It’s absolutely remarkable that MoDOT got this million dollars,” said Rev. David Gerth, the lead organizer of MCU. “However, it’s a small drop in the bucket in terms of pedestrian safety in South County.”

MCU first got involved in the project when several of their members encountered wheelchair-bound people in the driving lanes of Lemay, Lindbergh and Union Road.

“Every time you go by, you see people walking where it’s unsafe,” Chubb said.  “It makes a community when people can walk a block or two.”