Wentzville sign

(Source: City of Wentzville) 

At its May 30 meeting the St. Charles County Council approved Bill No. 5182, sponsored by council member Matt Swanson (District 1), that authorizes an intergovernmental agreement with the city of Wentzville for design and right-of-way work for the future construction of David Hoekel Parkway. The vote to approve was 7-0.

The agreement approves Wentzville’s application to the County Road Board for funding to design and acquire right-of-way for David Hoekel Parkway from West Meyer to North Point Prairie roads (David Hoekel Parkway Phase 3). The agreement also authorizes transfer of funds from the road board to the city of Wentzville for design and right-of-way acquisition for David Hoekel Parkway from North Point Prairie to Peine roads at U.S. 61 (David Hoekel Parkway Phase 5).

The county believes completion of the David Hoekel Parkway corridor is a high priority for the county as well as Wentzville. The county realized that because of workloads and extensive coordination required, it would be more efficient if the two phases were combined and completed by one engineering design team.

Although the county highway department’s David Hoekel Parkway Phase 5 Road Board application was approved for $1,550,000 through last year’s Transportation Improvement Program (TIP), work has not yet started.

David Hoekel Parkway map

David Hoekel Parkway map (Source: City of Wentzville)

Wentzville had agreed to complete design and rights-of-way acquisition for this phase, along with the portion for which they applied for in the new cycle of Road Board applications requesting $1,280,000 in county funds.

By transferring county funds and approving the new application ahead of the normal TIP cycle, Wentzville will be able to start the work this year. In turn, that will expedite moving the project to construction in 2025. The total cost of this design and rights-of-way acquisition work now is estimated to be $3,150,000.

David Hoekel, for whom the roadway was named, was a member of Wentzville's Board of Aldermen for 16 years. He also served on Wentzville's Park Board and its Economic Development Council.

John is a news reporter covering the city of O’Fallon and St. Charles County government. He and his wife live in O’Fallon. They have a daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren, also in O’Fallon. He is happy his grandchildren now can beat him in golf.