Orange and white barricades now block the 150-yard stretch of Augusta Bottom Road called the Augusta Parkway.For much of the past week, motorists have been using alternate routes to get from Augusta to Washington. Others, however, are just driving around the barricades.Augusta officials unofficially shut down the parkway last weekend due to liability issues, even though the town has no legal right to close the road, according to St. Charles County Councilman Joe Brazil.Augusta’s legal counsel, Mark Piontek, said the town was able to obtain new liability insurance coverage through a different company, but that firm won’t cover the parkway, which lies several miles outside the town’s corporate limits.It’s not just local motorists who are unhappy with the road closure. Brazil blames Warren County for failing to do the right thing. (See video to left of article)Warren County, he contends, has not been a good neighbor.“As a government entity their primary job is to take care of the infrastructure,” Brazil said.Warren County officials said they have different priorities. “We try to be good neighbors,” said Arden Engelage, Warren County presiding commissioner. “But we have to watch out for our landowners. We didn’t create this problem.”Warren County leaders maintain that the parkway, though located in Warren County, belongs to Augusta.“The road was washed out in 1993, and Augusta rebuilt it again with a grant,” said Engelage. “Once you take over a road it becomes your responsibility. The road is not even in the same location as it was before. It’s been moved.”Warren County officials have declined to upgrade the Parkway since it was rebuilt. St. Charles County, meanwhile, spent $1 million to pave their section of the road and put up guardrails, according to St. Charles County officials.Steve Ehlmann, St. Charles County executive, said Tuesday there is nothing St. Charles County can do about the Parkway at the present time.“We can’t fix it because it is not within our jurisdiction. And we can’t make Warren County fix it,” Ehlmann told The Record.Wrongful Death LawsuitAugusta leaders closed the road after its former insurance carrier paid out a settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit in the death of a Washington girl in 2010. That insurance company has notified the town that its insurance coverage would be terminated effective Aug. 25.Since then, Augusta has obtained liability insurance through a different carrier, but that company said it will not cover the parkway.In June, Augusta reached a confidential settlement with the plaintiffs in a 2012 wrongful death lawsuit. The suit was filed by David Neier and Dawn Tucker, parents of Ella Neier, 16, of Washington. Ella Neier died Oct. 22, 2010, when the car she was driving skidded off a section of the Augusta Parkway, in Warren County, and crashed into a lake.The terms of the settlement currently are sealed as the case against other defendants proceeds.Two other entities, Three Creeks Village and Franklin County, were dismissed from the lawsuit in February, leaving only the city of Washington and Warren and St. Charles counties as defendants. The case is pending in Warren County Circuit Court.The plaintiffs allege that the defendants failed to properly maintain and improve the roadway, leading to the fatal crash.A month later, Joseph Volmert died on the Bottom Road in a single car accident.Washington city officials have spearheaded efforts for years to find a way to rebuild the road or construct a new road off the levee. However, the lack of funding and no support from Warren County officials have stymied those efforts.At Tuesday’s Warren County Commission meeting, commissioners Engelage and Hubert Kluesner said they would meet Sept. 3 with landowners whose property straddles Augusta Bottom Road to get their input on how the road closure will impact movement of their machinery and trucks from field to field. One option to help farmers discussed Tuesday was to issue stickers to place on their equipment allowing them access to the road.

ON THE ROAD —  St. Charles County Councilman Joe Brazil Tuesday stands beside one of the barricades on Augusta Bottom Road.

Ethan Busse Photo.