The city of Marthasville has approved a $16,500 agreement with BFA engineering service to create a plan for a complete reconstruction of Pecan Street and a portion of West South Street.

The service will include survey work and designs for replacing the street pavement, as well as attached stormwater drains and culverts, Mayor David Lange said. Adding sidewalks also will be part of the designs.

The plans will include the section of West South Street from where it merges with Pecan Street, traveling east to One Street.

Lange estimated it has been more than a decade since the street had major repair work.

“It’s pretty rough, especially from the last bridge where it turns and goes out to Dollar General,” he said.

Widening the street is another objective of the project. The city’s total right of way along the street has been expanded from 30 feet to 45 feet, Lange explained.

The city had to get part of that right of way from a property owner, and in exchange waived the owner’s water and sewer hookup fee for the property, he said.

Reconstructing Pecan Street and South Street has been a city project since 2015, when the mayor said Marthasville was close to getting a cost-share grant with the Missouri Department of Transportation. BFA had already done preliminary engineering for the project when state funding was suspended and then reduced.

A more limited MoDOT cost-share grant still exists, but all of the funding could only be used on state-owned roadway, Lange said.

“(MoDOT is) basically asking us for money, instead of us asking them for money now, because none of the money would be spent on Pecan Street, which is where we want it,” he said.

So now the city will tackle the reconstruction project on its own. The first step is to get the engineering designs, followed by soliciting bids for the construction work. The project could be broken into phases based on available funding, Lange said.

Marthasville officials are still hopeful some kind of grant can be found or will become available to assist with the project, and said having the engineering done will make the city a more favorable candidate for such a grant.

“If we get this designed, and the state just so happens to change their mind like they have already (about grant funding) . . . it’s just going to look that much better,” said West Ward Alderman Christopher DeVore.

BFA’s proposal for the engineering services originally was $19,500 and included assistance with getting bids and administering the construction project. DeVore asked to decline those services and reduce the cost by $3,000. Fellow aldermen agreed.

The agreement with BFA was approved 3-0, with Alderman Leo Meyer absent, at the Marthasville Board of Aldermen’s regular monthly meeting, which was rescheduled from Sept. 20 to Sept. 27.