Ballwin Seeking Grant For $1.4 Million in Henry Avenue Improvements

The City of Manchester and the City of Ballwin have applied for federal grant money to improve Henry Avenue. Both cities submitted their applications for the East-West Gateway federal grants last week.

(Read Previous Story: Manchester Seeking Federal Grant For Henry Avenue Road Improvements)

The money is being used for an improvement project that covers the approximate 11,300 feet of the road, which is a little over 2 miles. Henry Avenue runs through both cities, between Clayton and Manchester roads. The project was initially estimated to cost a total of $2.5 million, but the majority of the road is located in Ballwin with an approximate 62/38 percent split. The financial responsibility for the project will be similarly split.

Ballwin and Manchester had planned to collectively apply for one East/West Gateway federal grant with the hope that one grant application would increase the chance of being awarded the funds for the entire project.

However, they ultimately applied individually for two separate grants, one for each city. 

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Ballwin City Engineer Gary Kramer tells Patch that the city was advised to apply separate from Manchester by the East-West Gateway Council.

"Because our scope is so different, they suggested we submitted separately," Kramer tells Patch. "But if we both get approved, there's the possibility...we could work it as one project."

Ballwin's total estimate for its portion of the project is $1,389,200, which would cover engineering, easement acquisitions and construction.

The East-West Gateway grant could cover up to 80 percent of the project, or $1,111,360, leaving the city responsible for the remaining 20 percent.

The same goes for the City of Manchester, which applied for a grant to fund approximately 80 percent of it's portion of the , .

Manchester City Engineer Ed Blattner tells Patch, that if the two cities would have applied for the grant together, Ballwin's portion of the project is much larger and $1.5 million is the maximum grant amount that East-West Gateway would give for one application. 

As part of the project, Ballwin plans to remove and replace five inches of old asphalt pavement along the road, make the sidewalk ADA compliant, replace deteriorated curb, construct curb and gutters where non exist along the road, plus build new curb ramps that are ADA compliant.

Blattner expects East-West Gateway to make a decision on whether it will award the grant money to the cities some time around June.

If the grant application is approved, the earliest that engineering work could begin would be in 2015 because funding would not be available until that time.

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