"For the purpose of facilitating increased traffic as a result of new development on the corridor as quickly as possible." That line comes from the bid documents for the Lake Saint Louis Boulevard Widening and Resurfacing Phase 1 project. It explains why the city added a special clause to the contract a few weeks ago. The development is the Costco going up near Hawk Ridge Circle. The clause gives the contractor a financial reason to finish fast.
For anyone who drives the boulevard between Freymuth Road and Hawk Ridge, that means one short, hard season of road work instead of a long, slow one. The schedule is built to land right before the store is expected to open.
The stretch being rebuilt is shorter than the whole plan
In February, the city held an open house at City Hall on a larger project. It would widen Lake Saint Louis Boulevard from three lanes to five and rebuild the road from Hawk Ridge Crossing Drive to Route N. The contract that went out for bids in September covers only part of that.
| Full widening plan | Phase 1 contract | |
|---|---|---|
| Limits | Hawk Ridge Crossing Drive to Route N | Just north of Freymuth Road to just south of Hawk Ridge Circle South |
| Length | Not stated in the city notice | About 2,065 feet |
| Lanes | 3 to 5 | Measured by when all five lanes are open |
| Status as of October 2026 | Discussed at a February 24, 2026 open house | Bids opened September 25, 2026 |
Within those 2,065 feet, the contract covers widening and resurfacing, new medians, storm sewers and inlets, and rebuilt concrete sidewalk and shared-use path. It also includes new curb ramps and fresh striping. The Costco site plan posted by the city shows what the store side of the road will look like. It labels a new traffic signal, a Freymuth Road extension, a new access point and a right-turn lane, and it marks the boulevard work itself as "road improvements by city."
How the contract makes delays expensive
The September 15, 2026 addendum made three changes. It moved the bid date to Friday, September 25. It added an incentive/disincentive clause for finishing the work quickly. It also switched the road's base from asphalt to concrete "to facilitate wintertime construction operations." The concrete base lets work keep going through the cold months.
The clause counts "closure time" as every day, weekends and holidays included, when all five lanes of the boulevard are not open to traffic. That includes days when two-way traffic still moves but barrels or staging block some lanes. The city put a fixed value of $3,500 on each of those days as the cost to drivers. Each bidder had to say how many closure days it needed. That number was multiplied by $3,500 and added to its price, and the total decided the low bid. A bidder that asked for a long closure looked more expensive on paper and was less likely to win. After award, the clause rewards finishing ahead of the contractor's own stated closure time and charges for running past it.
The finish line is fixed. The contract says closure time can't push any closure of the boulevard past May 31, 2027. The revised schedule also drops the original "300 calendar days from Notice to Proceed" and sets an anticipated start of November 16, 2026 and a completion date of May 31, 2027. From November 16 to May 31 is 196 days, about two-thirds of the window the original language allowed.
"Done" has a strict meaning here. Five lanes being drivable isn't enough. Before the job counts as substantially complete, the contract also requires:
- final asphalt surface on every lane
- pavement markings and permanent signs
- concrete sidewalks and multi-use paths
- ADA-compliant curb ramps
- paved surfaces for Freymuth and the connecting roads
- landscaping and restoration of disturbed ground
According to bid results published by MissouriBids, Karrenbrock Excavating, LLC was the apparent low bidder at $4,705,566.40. Lamke Trenching & Excavating bid $8,353,157.98. Under this format, those totals combine the price of the work with each bidder's closure days, and the published results don't separate the two. The city's final award still needs confirmation from MoDOT and the city.
What the winter should look like from behind the wheel
The contract limits how lane closures can affect drivers, and several of those rules fall during the holidays.
- Anticipated start, November 16, 2026. That's about five weeks from today. The schedule could still move once the contract is awarded.
- A week of warning before big changes. If the job includes a changeable message sign, the contractor has to post notice one week before traffic shifts to a detour or lanes close.
- Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's. Lanes are to be open from noon on the last working day before each holiday until 6 a.m. on the first working day after it. The exception is long-term closures the project's phasing requires. Hauling material inside the work zone also stops during those periods.
- Limits on backups. Lanes can't be closed until materials are on hand for continuous work. The contractor has to start reducing congestion once delays pass 10 minutes. If queues reach 15 minutes or longer, it has to review and adjust whatever caused them.
- Finish by May 31, 2027, with five lanes, sidewalks, path and landscaping in place.
Why the road sets the date for the store
The May 31 deadline matters because the store can't open without the road. At the Planning and Zoning Commission's December 4, 2025 hearing, Costco's representative said construction would run alongside the street work, but the store would not open until the road was complete. At the same meeting, Mayor McKinney said the original road plan had been moved up about nine months to handle the added traffic.
The commission voted 8-0 to recommend approval. Mid Rivers Newsmagazine reported that the Board of Aldermen passed the package 5-1 on December 15. By late summer the project was underway. On August 27, Spectrum News reported that construction had started. The broker who represented the land seller told the station the store might open "late spring next year, probably summer more likely," because the boulevard has to be finished first. A road deadline of May 31 followed by a summer store opening fits that estimate.
Costco has not set its own date yet. As of today, its public new-locations page does not list Lake Saint Louis.
What the north end of the site will carry
The hearing minutes explain why the city wanted the five-lane section before the store opens. The building is about 195,000 square feet. On its north end, away from the Mill Creek subdivision, Costco plans a 25,000-square-foot Market Delivery Operations area. The MDO is a new design with 21 overhead doors for shipping and receiving, 29 employees, and 16 delivery drivers working two shifts a day. The gas station is also at the north end. It will have 12 pumps, room for 4 more, and a layout three pumps wide and four deep so cars can line up on site.
Costco requested hours of 4 a.m. to 10 p.m. for the MDO and 4 a.m. to midnight for the gas station, with 24-hour fuel deliveries. Costco told the commission that most trucks would come from its distribution center and arrive in the morning before store hours, with smaller local delivery trucks also using the site. The plan also includes 940 parking spaces west and south of the building. The building sits 620 feet from the nearest Mill Creek property line. Light poles near the subdivision are 25 feet tall, compared with 36½ feet elsewhere on the lot. Costco said the landscape buffer would exceed requirements along Mill Creek, the boulevard frontage and the Hawk Ridge Trail extension.
So the early-morning delivery traffic and the gas station both sit at the north end of the site, along the stretch the Phase 1 contract is built to finish quickly.
The rest of the boulevard is on a later schedule
Phase 1 is the part tied to the store. At the December hearing, an attendee asked about widening the boulevard from Highway N to Costco. The mayor said that work had been sped up by about nine months but would likely not be done before Costco opens.
The corridor will keep changing after the store opens. Spectrum News reported that brokers are marketing 127 acres behind the Costco site and another 21 acres next to it, and that both parcels have drawn interest. No buyers or tenants have been named. Through spring 2027, drivers can expect concentrated work between Freymuth Road and Hawk Ridge Circle South. The section toward Highway N is likely to come later.
If you own along this corridor or in nearby neighborhoods like Mill Creek and you're thinking about timing a sale around the construction and the store opening, The Lisa Adkins Team can walk through the schedule with you and what it could mean for your plans. Schedule your free consultation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
