Chesterfield Won't Add $5 Million For Page-Olive Connector

Chesterfield will not contribute $5 million to the Page-Olive connector, which, in addition to connecting the two streets, will also connect the Maryland Heights Expressway with Highway 141, as announced last year. But a St. Louis County Official said that won’t delay the $52 million project at all.

“The project is going forward,” said David Wrone, spokesman for the St. Louis County Department of Highways and Traffic. “There won’t be any delays.”

St. Louis County announced last year that Chesterfield and Maryland Heights would each contribute $5 million for the Page-Olive connector, while St. Louis County would contribute $22 million from its transportation fund, with the remaining $20 million coming from federal stimulus funds.

This week, however, Chesterfield officials said the city will not contribute $5 million to the project. City Attorney Rob Heggie said Chesterfield officials have always supported the Page-Olive connector project, but opted not to fund it.

“It’s a vital economic development project,” Heggie said. “We always expected that we would be repaid. As this drug on, it looked like that wasn’t going to happen.”

Maryland Heights Communications Manager Sara Berry said Maryland Heights has provided funding for the Page-Olive connector.

“It doesn’t change anything as far as we’re concerned,” Berry said. “The bids came in lower than expected, so we ended up kicking in $4.25 million. Their (Chesterfield’s) share would have been the same as ours.”

Wrone said the county will pick up the funding slack, either by paying more through its transportation fund, pursuing a bond issue or other means. The fact that the bids came in lower than estimated also will help, he said.

The project has been unpopular with some Chesterfield residents, who say the project negatively impacts the area’s environment and homes in the River Bend Estates subdivision. Some also said that the county didn't perform the proper environmental studies.

Construction began in August on the new six-lane road, which is expected to relieve traffic congestion on Highway 141 and Interstate 270. Construction will resume in the spring as scheduled.  In addition to linking Page Avenue and Olive Blvd., it also will connect Maryland Heights Expressway to the relocated Missouri Highway 141.

“This has been identified as a vital project for St. Louis County for decades,” Wrone said. “This is going to help relieve traffic congestion on I-270, one of the most congested interstates in the area.”

He said at $52 million, the project is the largest in St. Louis County history.

Mike Geisel, director of planning, public works and parks for Chesterfield, said the Chesterfield City Council never voted on the funding issue, so the city never made a commitment to provide the $5 million.

Geisel said the city supports the connector project, and is cooperating with the county by providing landscaping and sharing in the environmental impact study costs.

Phone calls to Chesterfield councilmen Matt Segal and Randy Logan were not returned. A phone call to Chesterfield Acting Mayor and Ward 1 Councilman Barry Flachsbart was returned by Heggie.

Heggie said that early on, there were discussions that the county would include a transportation development district (TDD) or possibly would be repaid by the county’s transportation fund.

“It’s just not a project that we had $5 million to spend on without a guarantee that we would get that $5 million back,” Heggie said.

Former Chesterfield Mayor John Nations resigned in October to take over as director of Metro Transit, the St. Louis region’s public transportation authority, but could not be reached for comment.