Politics & Government

Town and Country Embarking on 'Historic' Infrastructure Overhaul Program

The city is considering spending approximately $16 million on projects, including road improvements, and the work will likely begin in coming months.

Town and Country residents may soon see what city leaders are calling an "historic" overhaul of the city's roads.

This week, Town and Country Department of Public Works Director Craig Wilde explained to aldermen a five-year program recently developed and recommended by the city's Public Infrastructure Investment Task Force. (The presentation can be read in the PDF portion of this article.)

The plan would invest approximately $5 million in road improvements this year and a total of approximately $16 million into the city's entire infrastructure, including roadway, facilities and stormwater projects over the five year span. There is also a potential for approximately $4.2 million in grant monies, leaving the total cost to the city around $12 million.

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The city has already approved $1.4 million for 2013 road improvements and another $3.6 million is being considered by the board of aldermen next month for 2013 road improvements. The additional $3.6 million would be transferred from the city's General Fund Reserve and applied to this year's roadway improvements. 

Before compiling the list of road projects, the public works and stormwater commission had to determine the needs for Town and Country road infrastructure and determine what resources were available, Wilde explained. He said another issue was prioritizing the large number of streets that are in the same condition and in close proximity to each other. 

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"If nothing is done in the short term, they will all degrade at the same rate," Wilde told aldermen.

Some of the streets topping the list are those in the Wheatfield Road Subdivision, Mason Valley Estates Subdivision and Cheshire Farms Subdivision.

Wilde also said contractors are bidding these projects extremely aggressively right now and that prices are lower than they've been in years.

"With this 'perfect storm' of network condition, economic factors and construction value the Task Force is confident that now is the time to act on such a historic undertaking for the City of Town & Country," Wilde stated in an email to Patch.

During the next two board of aldermen meetings, aldermen will likely discuss moving forward on the infrastructure project by allocating the the city's additional $3.6 million in 2013 funding for the overhaul. A vote on the matter could come as soon as the April 22 board of aldermen meeting.

Aldermen and the city's mayor expressed support for the plan this week.

"It would be a historic investment in our infrastructure that, in my opinion, is very important and overdue." Mayor Jon Dalton said.

"This is a bold move," added Alderman Fred Meyland-Smith. "This is a monumental undertaking of the city."

"I would hope our residents would appreciate it," Alderman Gussie Crawford said.

If aldermen approve funding for the 2013 road projects, bidding will likely begin in May and work could begin in July.

Wilde said the goal is to complete as much street work as possible this year and then the remainder of work would be completed in spring of 2014.

He said, it's possible work could be complete this year, but not likely.


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