City engineer warns removing bike lanes from Bates Road could cost Dardenne Prairie nearly $1.2 million in grant funding

Dardenne Prairie’s city engineer told aldermen that proposed changes to the Bates Road project — specifically removing separated bike lanes — would trigger a re‑scoring by East‑West Gateway and likely cause the project to lose both federal and county contributions.

"The removal of the bike lanes would deduct 4 points from the bike facility section, an additional 3 points from the safety section," the city engineer said, and added that because "this project was already on the threshold for funding, the removal of the bike lanes would drop the project below the funding threshold and lose $836,000 in federal funding." The engineer also reported that the county indicated Dardenne Prairie would lose "$359,000" in county funding if the project included no bike facilities.

Aldermen asked whether turn lanes could be retained; the engineer said turn lanes can be added where a traffic study shows they are needed, and that separated lanes could transition into mixed shared lanes at points where design requires. Several aldermen emphasized concerns for school‑bus safety and expressed skepticism about relying on later design changes without firm commitments.

The board did not take a vote on Bates Road at the work session; the county presenter (Amanda Brower) who would have provided the full bike/walk plan was unable to attend and the presentation was postponed. The engineer’s funding update will inform the rescheduled presentation and the board’s subsequent decision about bike facilities and lane configuration.