MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — The water flows freely at Fee Fee Creek Wednesday morning.
A stark contrast to its fierce floodwaters a year prior when record rainfall was dumped on the region last summer.
It's a time Chief Jim Usry with Pattonville Fire Protection District remembers well.
"It was a very busy day," Usry said.
He said the impact is still felt today.
Prichard Farm Road, immediately south of Route 141 in Maryland Heights, is still closed. A bridge on this stretch of road needs repairs.
St. Louis County Department of Transportation and Public Works said flood waters from Fee Fee Creek undermined the steel pipes supporting the bridge.
“We understand that the continued closure of the bridge is a source of frustration for motorists,” said Dan Howell, manager of DOT’s bridge section. “But we’re moving the repair project along as quickly and as diligently as possible. The reality, though, is that we’re working within a process that takes time. And at this point, we’re at least a year from reopening.”
The department explained bridge personnel are working with a design consultant to finalize a repair project to protect the pipes from future erosion.
5 On Your Side learned departmental engineers had to analyze different options and chose to remove one approach to the bridge to gain access to the compromised substructure. Another option was tearing out the bridge’s deck.
“Accessing the eroded area is complicated by the roadway above it,” Howell explained. “In order to restore the protective rock washed away by the flood, the adjacent roadway will have to be removed to enable us to place fill to stabilize the substructure.”
The department will also line the creek bed with a concrete channel to prevent flood waters from accessing the restored substructure.
The department's design consultant must first develop computer models to demonstrate the proposed channel modification won’t result in any change to Fee Fee Creek.
The proposed plan must then be approved by multiple parties, including the Howard Bend Levee District, the Metropolitan Sewer District, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the City of Maryland Heights.
After that, the department will put the project out for bid, select a successful bidder and then forward the contract to the St. Louis County Council for approval.
The department said at the earliest, the bridge won't reopen until early next year. There's a strong likelihood, it won't be ready until 2025.
Usry understands the department is limited, but he said he is also worried about delays.
"The timeliness of the construction project is a real concern and stays a priority for the Pattonville Fire District," Usry added.
Usry explained one of their fire stations is just a block away from this area.
"In that response area, they take that route 40% of the time out of that engine house. Not having that ability, we have to go a mile down the road and then turn around and double back. That time for that apparatus is two minutes and 45 seconds," Usry shared.
He said in a lifesaving situation, every second counts.
That's why he wants repair crews to speed up the workflow and put this project at a higher priority.
"We look at our response and the urgency to be there, we try to target the four-minute response time because if someone is suffering from a life-threatening situation and doesn't have oxygen, we need to be there within four to six minutes before brain damage does occur, that's the reason it is so imperative," Usry said.