ST. CHARLES COUNTY, Mo. – One of the busiest streets in St. Charles was set to reopen later Wednesday morning with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Part of Zumbehl Road has been under construction for the past three months. The good news is that city leaders will take the barricades down Wednesday morning.

The $5.6 million project is upgrading the bridge and storm drains that have been falling apart for nearly 40 years. Crews have installed larger concrete culverts to replace old metal pipes, and they’re also replacing the Zumbehl Bridge and sidewalk.

While Wednesday marks a significant milestone in the ‘Zumbehl Road Culvert Replacement Project,’ we should mention intermittent lane closures will occur for a couple of weeks for construction on sidewalks and the surrounding landscaping.

In March 2018, MoDOT gave the bridge a score of 49.6%.

Dan Mann, the head engineer of the city of St. Charles, called the bridge “structurally deficient.”

Bigger, concrete culverts will help fix years of erosion. This project to upgrade crumbling storm drains and cracked roads and revamp the Zumbehl Bridge fixes a long-overdue problem.

During this time, drivers wanting to go north on Zumbehl after getting off 94 have been rerouted to Regency Parkway, but the barricades blocking that part of Zumbehl will be taken down Wednesday. The goal of this project’s completion is to make the roads safer and more stable, but it will also improve traffic.

This is one of St. Charles’ largest roads.