There has been a lot of construction going on by QT, Old Highway N and Sommers Road. The project under design is the Old Highway N – phase 2 and phase 3.
According to Lake Saint Louis City Hall, “This project will extend Old Hwy N from Hawk Ridge Trail to Old Forester Drive and includes constructing a traffic signal at the intersections of Old Hwy N/Hawk Ridge Trail and Old Hwy N/Sommers Road.”
All of this construction for Old Highway N has been ongoing in since 2020 when the first part started.
The current phase on the Hawk Ridge side, that is closed now, with the construction that started last year.
They built the road to provide access from Hawk Ridge Trail to Sommers without utilizing Highway N. Also to provide local connection and to have access to the commercial development, like Freddies, Chick-Fil-A, 7 Brew, etc.
Turning out of Old Highway N or turning out of QT onto Sommers Road is difficult, especially in the mornings and afternoon, can cause lots of accidents and backups.
Jace Brewer (12), who takes Old Highway N to his job all the time and also drives past QT and 7 Brew multiple times a day, said, “The issue is partly that that intersection is very confusing for some people and some people can’t even drive well in general so it can be dangerous there.”
What plans in this project will help fix this?
Currently, there is a new stoplight being built by QT, Old Highway N and Sommers Road which will be fully operational in the next month.
How do people feel about a new stoplight being built?
“I think the construction is going to make the traffic worse, but I also think that it’s going to make it safer for other drivers,” Pranad Ball (12) said.
Stoplights are being put in because the traffic flow will be too large without them.
Brewer expresses how he thinks that they should just paint the lines for the lanes and people will be able to navigate it a little bit easier.
But putting in stoplights will also provide for better bike and pedestrian access and safety, which is really big in this area especially with people walking from school to home or to Chick-fil-A and QT.
“I really try to avoid that road if I can due to the excessive traffic,” Chloe Bostic (12) said, who drives to school everyday.
But isn’t that stoplight too close to the other stoplight on Highway N?
“I think that the light there will just create more of a traffic jam because there’s a high school right there and there is another light, so people are 100% going to get backed up in there and stuck in the middle of the intersections,” Brewer said.
The stoplight on Sommers is closer than you’d like it to be on Highway N, and could cause issues if not timed properly.
It will require engineers to make sure the lights at Sommers and Highway N, and the one on Sommers and Old Highway N work together so they don’t interfere with each other.
David Nolan, who is an engineer and vice president of SCI Engineering, says the intersection is nearing completion.
“Just by looking at the progress, probably within a month everything will be open and functional. They still might be doing cleanup but that’s all,” Nolan said.
With all of the construction at the intersection, there is also a lot of ongoing development on Old Highway N cause they are building new places. Under construction is Chipotle, Mattress Firm, Jersey Mike’s, and First Watch.
“I think the construction is fine, it hasn’t really impacted me, however, I do see people that are going outside of the lanes in front of me,” Balla said.
All this construction though is causing even more traffic and backups on Old Highway N and Sommers Road, but once construction is completed, it will be a lot better hopefully.
