Reconstruction of Green Park Road and its bridge over Gravois Creek will commence next year.

The city’s 2011 budget, which the Board of Aldermen unanimously approved last week, projects the total cost to reconstruct the road and bridge to be $3,080,740. Eighty percent of the road construction will be funded through a federal grant approved in 2003, which is listed in the 2011 budget as $2,464,592.

To date, the city has spent a total of roughly $750,000 to acquire three properties along Green Park Road and in consulting fees for right-of-way acquisition.

As proposed, the city will redevelop a roughly 6,000-foot stretch of Green Park Road from Tesson Ferry Road to Lin Valle Drive. The road will be widened with two extra feet of lanes on each side to make 12-foot lanes.

The city also plans to widen the Green Park Road bridge over Gravois Creek, work that likely will run concurrently with the road reconstruction, officials have said.

Aldermen voted unanimously last week to name Concrete Strategies of Overland the contractor for the bridge project. The company’s $739,596 bid was the lowest of seven submitted.

Randy Griffon of the Weis Design Group told aldermen that Concrete Strategies’ references, which include the Missouri Department of Transportation and St. Louis city, all spoke highly of the company’s work ethic.

“The only thing that was kind of a drawback was what experience they have on bridges is strictly rehab work,” Griffon said, but added Weis was confident in Concrete Strategies’ ability to handle Green Park’s bridge widening.

Besides the bridge work, the project will include the reconstruction of roughly 200 feet of Green Park Road.

Work to be performed by Concrete Strategies on Green Park Road will include the replacement of curbing, landscaping and driveway aprons, the installation of a new asphalt pedestrian path and the installation of new storm sewers.

The board voted unanimously last month to name L. Krupp Construction Inc. of Ballwin the contractor for the Green Park Road project, approving Krupp’s low bid of nearly $2.2 million.

Mayor Tony Konopka said last week a preconstruction meeting on the road project recently took place between engineers and Krupp representatives. The parties expressed concerns about impaired access to the Green Park Senior Living Community during reconstruction but planned to meet again to work out a solution, Konopka said.

Officials have said the city will sponsor a town-hall meeting for residents and business owners to learn more information and ask questions about the Green Park road and bridge project.

A meeting date had not been set at press time.

Besides widening Green Park Road, the city plans to include a new pedestrian pathway along the road’s north side, an additional right-turn lane at the road’s intersection with Tesson Ferry Road and a new leftturn lane at Antrill Drive.

Green Park received a $4,000 grant from the Municipal Park Grant Commission to assist in the planning phase of the new pedestrian pathway along the road’s north side.

Plans also call for eliminating drop-offs and ditches from the road and replacing them with vertical curbs on each side. Because the curbing would replace ditches on each side of the road, a storm sewer would be installed across the road’s length.

Substantial grade changes also will be made at the road’s intersections with Kohrs Lane, Mueller Road and Lisa Marie Court to improve sight-line visibility and provide better curb alignment.