Manchester Seeking Federal Grant For Henry Avenue Road Improvements

The City of Manchester will apply for approximately $570,000 in federal grant money to improve Henry Avenue. Aldermen gave City Engineer Ed Blattner the go-ahead to apply for an East-West Gateway federal grant for the improvement project this week.

The cities of Manchester and Ballwin are both working to make improvements to the road, including stormwater, street overlay and adding ADA compliant sidewalks. However, the two cities are now applying for grant money separately, Blattner tells Patch.

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Blattner turned in the grant application to East-West Gateway this week. Manchester is applying for a grant to fund approximately 80 percent of it's portion of the .

"That would be our 20 percent match," Blattner said.

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As previously reported by Patch, the approximate 11,300 feet of the road, which is a little over 2 miles, runs between Clayton and Manchester roads. The project was initially estimated to cost a total of $2.5 million, but the majority of the road is located in Ballwin with an approximate 62/38 percent split. The financial responsibilty for the project will be similarly split.

Ballwin and Manchester had planned to collectively apply for one East/West Gateway federal grant with the hope that one grant application would increase the chance of being awarded the funds for the entire project.

However, Blattner said Ballwin recently decided to apply for the grant money separately from Manchester because its portion of the project is much larger and $1.5 million is the maximum grant amount that East-West Gateway would give for one application. 

"The cost of Ballwin's project came in much higher than what their (grant) allocation would be if the two of us went in together," Blattner tells Patch. "Instead of us working together, we're now each trying to get our own grant."

Although Blattner has applied for the grant, he points out there is no guarantee that either or both cities will be awarded the money.

"Whether we'll both get funded, or one of us will...I have no idea," he explained.

Applications are due this week and Blattner expects East-West Gateway to make a decision some time around June.

If the grant application is approved, Blattner said the earliest work could begin on Henry Avenue would be in 2015 because funding would not be available until that time.

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