ST. PETERS, Mo. — Starting Monday, the city of St. Peters will be blocking off access to Mexico Road from Kimberly Lane.
The temporary closure comes after residents filed complaints saying the area is too dangerous.
“It’s an exit only, not an entrance. Because, as you see, the sign says, ‘Do not enter,’” St. Peters resident Ron Staszcuk said.
Staszcuk has lived in the St. Peters area for about 40 years and has only seen the situation on Kimberly Lane get worse.
“There's 550 to 700 cars a day come through this street, and the average speed is 33 miles an hour. It's a 25-mile-per-hour speed limit. So you know that cars are going 35 to 45 miles an hour. But another problem that's developed is people turning off of Mexico Road onto the street, which is very dangerous too,” Staszcuk said.
He's talking about a dangerous, illegal right turn from Mexico Road onto Kimberly Lane. Many people use the street as a cut-through.
“You save about eight to 10 seconds instead of going the correct way to Grand Teton,” Staszcuk said.
St. Peters Manager of Staff Support Services Burt Benesek said they have tried a variety of things to try and prevent people from using the exit illegally.
“We took other steps with signage. We actually did a median extension to try to address the issue,” Benesek said.
Staszcuk said none of the preventative measures to keep people from coming in the subdivision exit have worked and they actually believe some of them have made it worse.
“They tried to redo the median here on Mexico Road, and it just made it more inviting for people to come straight off Mexico Road,” Staszcuk said.
Now the city is going to temporarily close the subdivision exit for 45 days.
“We're going to look at and monitor traffic operations, make sure it's not creating an issue with traffic and monitor safety. We'll get an opportunity for residents to give feedback. We'll compile all of that information, and then if the decision is to move forward with a permanent closure, we'll make that recommendation to our board,” Benesek said.
He said that more than 15 years ago, Kimberly Lane fully intersected with Mexico Road.
“With the Grand Teton project, that intersection was completely removed. That section of Kimberly in the subdivision was converted to a cul de sac, to what you see now. And then in response to concerns from the community at the time we were doing the Grand Teton project, that's where that little right out exit was added,” Benesek said.
The city wants residents to weigh in on the closure, you can do that by calling 636-477-6600 or submitting a comment online.
The closure is scheduled to end on Oct. 10 and then data and comments will be reviewed by the St. Peters Board of Aldermen at the Oct. 24 meeting.