The Green Park Board of Aldermen last week named L. Krupp Construction Inc. of Ballwin the contractor for the city’s long-awaited road project.

Aldermen voted unanimously Nov. 15 to approve an ordinance selecting Krupp as the contractor for the Green Park Road improvement project and authorizing the mayor to execute a contract with the company.

The board approved Krupp’s bid of $2,159,723.33 as the lowest and best bid of the seven submitted.

Bids ranged from Krupp’s low bid to a high bid of $2.4 million.

Besides Krupp’s total bid of roughly $2.2 million, the city should anticipate up to a 10-percent contingency for such unplanned expenses during construction as utility conflicts, unknown soil conditions and survey conflicts, according to the Weis Design Group.

Krupp has done work for Chesterfield, Wildwood and other municipalities in the region. Weis Design Group’s Randy Griffon, project manager for the Green Park Road improvements, told the board last week that Krupp is among the top contractors in the area.

“They’re probably in the top 5 percent of contractors here in the area as far as their quality of work, Griffon said. “We do a lot of work with them. Usually the projects come in under budget and under the allotted time frame.”

Green Park plans to redevelop a roughly 6,000-foot stretch of Green Park Road from Tesson Ferry Road to Lin Valle Drive.

As proposed, Green Park Road will be widened with two extra feet of lanes on each side to make 12-foot lanes.

Other improvements 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 left-turn lane at Antrill Drive.

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.

The East-West Gateway Council of Governments in 2003 approved a federal grant funding 80 percent of Green Park Road’s original reconstruction cost of $2.425 million. As projected then, the city’s share would have been roughly $485,000.

Griffon told the board last week that because the city received a federal grant for the project, all interested contractors had to be on the Missouri Department of Transportation’s list of accepted contractors.

“Basically what that’s going to do is take the responsibility as far as getting background, referrals or what have you — that’s going to alleviate that issue. Once they’re on MoDOT’s accepted contractor list, then all you guys are interested in is the actual lowest contract. And they do that because there is federal money involved,” Griffon said, noting that all seven bidders for the Green Park Road project are on MoDOT’s list.

The estimated cost to redevelop Green Park Road is expected to rise due to such factors as plans to construct a pedestrian pathway along the road’s north side instead of a sidewalk down the more residential south side and also because of estimated increases in construction costs since 2003. 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.

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.

Griffon said the city would need to send MoDOT a concurrence letter seeking approval of its decision. He estimated the process would take 30 days, after which the city could execute the contract with Krupp and issue a notice to proceed.

A pre-construction meeting then would be conducted with the contractor, engineers and MoDOT and city officials. Mayor Tony Konopka has said work on Green Park Road could begin as early as February.

The city also plans a second phase of redeveloping Green Park Road. That phase will run from Lin Valle Drive and will include widening the Gravois Creek bridge.

City Administrator/City Clerk Zella Pope told the board last week bids for the second phase of the project will be opened at 11 a.m. next Thursday — Dec. 2 — at City Hall, 11100 Mueller Road, Suite 2. It appears the two phases of the Green Park Road project will run concurrently, she added.

Konopka said the city is considering conducting a town-hall meeting for residents and businesses regarding the Green Park Road project. No date has been set for the meeting, but officials said it likely will take place after the pre-construction meeting.

“I’m sure there’s going to be a number of businesses and residents that have some concern,” the mayor said. “I know that if I had a business down there along Lin Valle or something, I’d be concerned. The same goes for the residents that live along Green Park Road. We have had businesses and residents call City Hall to find out about what’s going on. And it’s just that we need to tell them that Green Park Road is not supposed to be shut down completely.”