By Jack Underwood, Staff Writer
Wright City’s plans to improve Roelker Road have taken another step toward completion. The Wright City Board of Aldermen approved the sale of $6.5 million in general obligation bonds at their Sept. 26 meeting.
Those bonds were sold on the morning of Sept. 26 pending final approval from the board that night.
As of Oct. 8 that sale was final and the bonds were available for purchase by investment banks and any other prospective buyers of the municipal bonds.
Those bonds were approved by the voters during the April 2 election and the lengthy process to make those funds available to the city has come to an end.
The city is working with contractor Cochran Engineering to complete plans for the Roelker Road expansion, according to City Clerk Abbie Ogborn. The completed designs may be ready by the end of the month.
The project to expand Roelker Road comes in conjunction with the construction of the new Wright City High School which is expected to open next year.
Phase one of that project is currently being designed by Cochran Engineering and is supposed to expand the road to two lanes both north and south from just south of the railroad tracks to the south end of the high school property.
The plan will also add a left turn lane both north and south at the entrance to the high school, according to Ogborn.
The city hopes to go out for bid on that project in November and award that bid to a contractor by December.
As long as those deadlines are met, Ogborn said the project should still be done by its projected May 2025 completion date.
“That’s our expectation,” said Ogborn.
There will also be a second phase of the project that will include further improvements to Roelker Road, but Ogborn said Cochran is still in the process of designing those plans.
Per the language of the bond issue when it was passed, the $6.5 million in funds is to be dedicated to road improvements in Wright City, specifically to Roelker Road.
There is however, a provision that any left over funds following the completion of the Roelker Road project can be allocated to other road improvements in the city.
Ogborn said it was unclear at this time whether there would be any leftover funds but said that if there are, decisions will be made about those funds when they become available for other projects.