ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis region will receive $33.2 million in federal funding for two transportation projects, officials announced Tuesday.
The funding is through U.S. Department of Transportation's Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grants.
St. Louis County was awarded an $18.2 million grant to improve the West Florissant Avenue corridor. The funds will be used to rebuild 1.5 miles of West Florissant Avenue, from Stein Road to Ferguson Avenue, through Ferguson and Dellwood.
County officials said the project includes road and sidewalk enhancements, providing better access points to businesses along the corridor and creating shared-use paths for cyclists and pedestrians. The project also includes upgrading traffic signals, adding crosswalks, installing medians and making sidewalks ADA compliant. West Florissant Avenue, a major thoroughfare in St. Louis County, carries 30,000 vehicles per day and is used by over 1,000 pedestrians daily, officials said.
Construction on the West Florissant Avenue corridor is expected to begin in spring 2024 with completion set for summer 2026.
In 2014, the West Florissant Avenue corridor was designated as a project of the Great Streets Initiative, which the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, the regional planning agency, launched in 2006. Since 2014, investment along West Florissant has included Urban League of Metropolitan St. Louis, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater St. Louis and a new Mercy clinic, officials said.
“Designating and funding West Florissant as a Great Streets project in the cities of Ferguson and Dellwood will enhance mobility and safety on the route and, consequently, improve economic conditions in a community that for many years has endured disinvestment and neglect,” St. Louis County Executive Sam Page said in a statement.
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