OAKVILLE, Mo. — A proposed $2.2 million roundabout has some south county residents frustrated.
It’s proposed for an accident-prone 4-way stop in Oakville across from the elementary school.
Nooria Sidiqi said she was on her way home from the gym with her kids, driving through the intersection of Yaeger and Milburn Roads, when another car came out of nowhere.
“I don't think that car over there saw me, and I already made my move, and I hit him,” Sidiqi said.
The accident totaled her car. She’s not alone.
According to St. Louis County, the intersection is one of the top ten most problematic intersections in the county, with 48 accidents over a four-year period, 10 of them involving injuries.
“I see accidents here every day. Somebody had a rental truck and he went all the way over there. They replaced that gate over there. And saw another accident a couple of weeks ago, and things happen every day. Yesterday, I almost got hit,” Sidiqi said.
St. Louis County Transportation officials have secured the money from federal grants to fix the intersection, proposing a roundabout with crosswalks instead of the four-way stop.
“So in a roundabout, you're literally looking for one car coming that way and the pedestrians. So it just clears a lot of conflict points up,” St. Louis County Transportation Engineer Kori Neely said.
Sidiqi said she thinks it would be a good thing.
“I think that will help to slow them down a little bit,” Sidiqi said.
But many others at a meeting to discuss the project hated the idea.
“I don't see how young drivers, much less older drivers are going to get through that. And I think it's going to be more accidents, not less,” Nancy Scheitlin said.
Scheitlin said she’s concerned about pedestrians too.
“I noticed that they're going to have crosswalks also, but not right at the corner. I don't know how people are going to get across the street,” Scheitlin said.
She said she’d rather have a stoplight installed, but county engineers say that’s not in the cards here due to the type of grant they applied for.
“We actually went for congestion mitigation and air quality funds. So that means we need to show that we're lowering emissions. That means keeping cars going, not stopping,” Neely said.
St. Louis County will have a few more meetings about the project and does want the residents' feedback.
You can find more information about the project here.
Construction is scheduled to start in 2026 and be finished by 2027.