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Dardenne Prairie delays Bates Road grant vote after turn-lane concerns
Summary
The Board of Aldermen postponed a vote on a Surface Transportation Block Grant for Bates Road after residents and aldermen raised concerns that the current design would remove the center turn lane and create traffic bottlenecks; staff said scope changes require county and East-West Gateway approval.
Dardenne Prairie — The Board of Aldermen voted on Oct. 1 to postpone action on Bill 25-42, a Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG) agreement for the Bates Road phase 1 project, after several aldermen and residents said the proposed design would eliminate a center turn lane and worsen traffic congestion.
The city attorney read the ordinance authorizing the city administrator to execute the STBG program agreement with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission. The city engineer confirmed the design "would eliminate the entire center turn lane" from Redhawk Parkway and the South Outer Road to Route 364, a change several speakers said would create bottlenecks at key turning points.
During public comment and board discussion, a resident described the current congestion at the intersection, saying she was "the sixth car in line to make a left onto the outer road," and urged the board to seek amendments to preserve left-turn capacity. Several aldermen echoed that concern and asked whether land acquisition to widen the roadway could retain the turn lanes.
City staff explained that adding left-turn lanes would constitute a project scope change and would have to be presented to the County Road Board and the East-West Gateway Council for approval. The city engineer warned that scope changes are typically considered during the design phase and may affect eligibility for grant funding or require the city to cover additional costs if the change is not approved by funding partners.
Given the uncertainty about whether a scope change would be accepted and the potential fiscal risk if the city were required to pay the full cost, an alderman moved to postpone the vote to the next meeting to obtain design clarifications; the motion carried. The board did not approve or reject the grant at the Oct. 1 meeting.
What happens next: City staff said they will pursue further discussion with the County Road Board and East-West Gateway about possible scope changes and return with clarification. If a scope change is requested and denied, staff said the city could be contractually liable for the added cost and would need to decide whether to fund it or decline the change.
