If all goes as planned, St. Martins city officials hope to begin improvements on Business 50 next month.
The project will overlay Business 50 West and add paved 8-foot shared bike/pedestrian lanes in each direction alongside Business 50 West from Evanlee Court to just west of Carel Road.
The total cost for the project is $1.2 million, with St. Martins paying $553,000, a Missouri Department of Transportation grant paying $397,000 and Cole County adding $250,000, City Administrator Doug Reece said.
The money from Cole County came after county commissioners signed an agreement with St. Martins to provide cooperative funding through the county's half-cent capital improvement sales tax.
"The plan, for now, is start work around Sept. 7," Reece said. "If we're able to keep the construction schedule we're looking at, we should be done with the work around Thanksgiving."
The city took over Business 50 in the 1990s when the new four-lane highway came in, Reece said.
"Other than filling in potholes, there have been no major improvements since then," Reece said. "It hasn't been overlayed. It's the original road from when the new (Business) 50 went in. The city is responsible for the upkeep from Rainbow Drive on west. Going east of Rainbow, it's Cole County's responsibility."