Push is on for phase two of Page Avenue extension

The Missouri Department of Transportation has plans to keep the ball rolling on the Route 364 (Page Ave. Extension) project thanks to a new injection of funding. MoDOT held an informational public meeting on Sept. 10 to give the public a chance to see progress on the project and to learn about what is ahead.

Currently, crews are working on Phase Two of the three phased project. MoDOT recently received $44 million from American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funding to complete the second phase, which spans between Jungs Station Road and Mid Rivers Mall Drive. Completion of Phase Two should cost about $40 million. 

The first section of Phase Two, Jung Stations Road to just east of Jungermann Road, is anticipated to open by spring of 2010, however it is unclear if the entire section will be open to the public. MoDOT is considering keeping the new Rt. 364 underpass at Harvester closed, which would keep drivers on the outer roads at that intersection.

“We haven’t figured out how we’re going to deal (with the Harvester underpass),” said MoDOT spokesperson Andrew Gates. “It really doesn’t make a lot of sense to open the roadway underneath Harvester when all you’re going to do it put people back onto the outer roads there.”

Beginning in October, crews will start constructing one-way outer roads on either side of the new route between Jungermann Road and Mid Rivers Mall Drive to serve as a detour routes. MoDOT plans to weave Rt. 364 through the area, following the current Hwy. 94 path, in a series of over- and under-passes. Rt. 364 will go over Jungermann Road, under Central School Road, and then over Woodstone and Kisker roads. At Mid Rivers Mall Drive, Rt. 364 and Hwy. 94 will split off, and Rt. 364 will continue through Cottleville (as proposed for Phase Three construction) while Hwy. 94 stays as it is.

Gates said that about 45,000 vehicles travel between Jung Stations Road and Mid Rivers Mall Drive daily. MoDOT does not expect a significant impact to traffic at Jungermann or Central School roads. 

The new section of road is anticipated to be completed by 2012.

Phase Three, which would take Rt. 364 through Mid Rivers Mall Drive to Rt. 40, is projected to cost $140 million. MoDOT does not have funding in place for the final phase, and in order to utilize the design-build process with has been approved by Missouri legislature, that section would need to start by 2013. 

MoDOT is considering breaking Phase Three into two segments, similar to Phase Two, by constructing Mid Rivers Mall Drive to Hwy. K first and Hwy. K to Rt. 40 second. By doing so, MoDOT would be able to divide the cost of the project.

“How we do Phase Three just depends on the money,” Gates said. “If we can get the money in one bang, then we’ll do it in one bang. Splitting it up shouldn’t change the cost significantly.”