Washington and Augusta officials met last week with Warren County commissioners and hammered out an agreement to move forward with a safety study of the Augusta Bottom Road, members of the Washington Area Highway Transportation Committee were told Monday. Darren Lamb, director of community and economic development, said he and City Engineer Dan Boyce met with other officials on the road and ironed out the agreement. “They (county commissioners) have agreed to participate,” Lamb told the committee. “We are putting the paperwork together.” “That’s the most progress we’ve seen in 12 years,” Committee Chairman Bill Straatmann said. City Engineer Dan Boyce said the consultant, Rick Brown with H.R. Green Co., is preparing the draft application now and once it’s completed, copies will be given to all interested parties, including Warren County, Augusta and St. Charles County. “Once everyone agrees on the wording and sign it, we will file the application,” Boyce said. The Washington City Council earlier this year agreed to seek a Traffic Engineering Assistance Program (TEAP) grant through the Missouri Department of Transportation that would cover 80 percent of the estimated $10,000 cost to conduct a study on ways to improve safety on the 1.7-mile section of the narrow, gravel road that sits atop a levee at the south end of Warren County. The council also agreed to pay up to a $2,000 match. But all the affected government entities must sign off on the study to obtain the grant. Lamb said Monday that county commissioners agreed to participate depending on the scope of the study. “They’re not in favor of moving it or that it be paved,” Lamb noted. He said the scope of the project likely will be tailored to fit that. County commissioners also wanted the study to look at the full length of the road from Emke Road in St. Charles County to Highway 47 in Warren County. The need to make the road safer moved to the forefront following the death of a 16-year-old Washington girl who died after her car ran off a section of the road and crashed into a large pond Oct. 22, 2010. The major part of the road lies in Warren County but there’s a short section in St. Charles County that is paved with asphalt. The county commission had been adamant that the section where the fatal wreck occurred, though in Warren County, is Augusta’s responsibility. Commissioners said the town applied for federal assistance to rebuild the section near the ponds that were washed out in the 1993 and 1995 floods and created what is called the Augusta Parkway. It’s the county’s plan to continue maintaining Augusta Bottom Road as a gravel road as it has done in the past. Commissioners have been reluctant to pave the Warren County portion in fear more accidents will occur as motorists drive faster. Councilman Tim Brinker said at Monday’s committee meeting that he had heard that St. Charles County was proceeding with erecting guardrails along the paved portion, where a second fatal crash occurred about three weeks after the first fatality. Bob Hofer, the new chairman of the Augusta Town Board, said there’s still a big question mark about the ownership of the Augusta Parkway since agreements apparently were not recorded when the washed-out section was rebuilt. Bernie Hillermann, committee member, said he spoke with Tom Diehl, a former Augusta board chairman, who said he’s not against the study but “feels it will be in vain,” without a way to fund and maintain improvements. Hillermann said Diehl has suggested that Augusta do away with its village charter, placing it under the jurisdiction of St. Charles County which then could make improvements to the road. Hofer said he also spoke with Diehl and said there is some interest in that idea, but giving up the charter would be up to the people. He said with Augusta’s 160-year history, that would not be taken lightly.