With the clock ticking on the start of Highway 40 work, St. Louis County on Thursday suspended negotiations with four municipalities over the county takeover of Clayton and Ladue roads.

County officials say they need to get new traffic signals up and improve intersections on the roads - both key alternatives to Highway 40 - before work on the highway starts this spring.

On Tuesday, the County Council expects to consider taking control of the two thoroughfares away from Frontenac, Ladue, Creve Coeur and Town and Country. Leaders from the four cities and the county have been negotiating the matter since December; county officials maintain that they already have legal authority to proceed.

"What I need to do is apply the best energies I've got to making these improvements to the roads, not agonizing over words on a piece of paper," Garry Earls, acting director of highways and traffic, said Thursday. "We just don't have time any more to worry about those fine points."

County officials were caught off guard this week when they learned ramps from Hanley Road to westbound Highway 40 (Interstate 64) would close almost as soon as rebuilding work starts. They'd expected at least nine more months to get alternative routes ready.

A takeover would give the county control and maintenance responsibilities during the three years of Highway 40 construction. It would allow county officials to more easily do things such as lift truck restrictions and install traffic signals. The council tabled a takeover bill in December so that an agreement with the four cities could be negotiated.

Gateway Constructors announced Thursday it will postpone the Hanley Road ramp closures to give the county more time to improve alternative routes. Rather than close both ramps in March, crews now plan to close the ramp from southbound Hanley in April. The ramp from northbound Hanley will close in June.

The ramps will be closed for about three years so that crews can build the new freeway-to-freeway interchange connecting Highway 40 and Interstate 170.

The postponement won't affect the construction schedule or costs, Gateway spokesman Dan Galvin said. The Missouri Department of Transportation hired Gateway to design and rebuild about 10 miles of Highway 40.

"We determined that there were enough other things we could do in that area so that in this particular instance rearranging the work to accommodate the county's request wouldn't cause a delay in our overall schedule," said Barry Erlandson, maintenance of traffic manager for Parsons, Gateways' main design engineering firm.

Even with the delay, county officials say there's a greater sense of urgency to make streets ready. The part of Clayton Road that the county hopes to control is from Highway 141 to the Clayton city limits, and Ladue Road from I-270 to about I-170.

"We are under time restraints," County Executive Charlie Dooley said. "We have to pass ordinances, go out for bids, select the low bidder and get the work done."

County Councilwoman Colleen Wasinger, R-Town and Country, called a road takeover premature. "I'm surprised," she said. "I don't see anything different than in December. ... The cities are willing to come to the table."

The county will move forward with plans to change the two roads, Dooley said, but it still will consider changing small details.

"We still want to cooperate with the cities," he said. "We can meet with them weekly, have conversations and still reach an agreement down the road."

Mayors of Ladue and Frontenac weren't available for comment.

County plans include installing or changing 28 traffic signals countywide by the end of the year to move traffic more efficiently, Earls said. He's working to get more signals "actuated." A system of actuated lights will adjust signal timing to meet changing traffic demands.

The first step will be installing a signal at McCutcheon Avenue and Clayton Road. The intersection is in both Ladue and Richmond Heights and has a stop sign for eastbound Clayton Road traffic only.

The signal would be in an area where motorists will be leaving Highway 40 to avoid ramp closings on Hanley Road and lane closings on Interstate 170, Earls said. The signal will help motorists get to McKnight Road, he said.


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