The city of Washington is poised to serve as the “lead agency” in the effort to improve safety along a hazardous stretch of the Augusta Bottom Road in Warren County. Monday night, seven of the eight city council members voted to support the effort and spend up to $2,000 as the local match toward a grant that could fund an engineering study with the goal to make the 1.7-mile gravel section of road safer. Councilman John Rhodes was the only member voting no. Members Tim Buddemeyer, Tim Brinker, Carolyn Witt, Connie Groff, Walt Meyer, Steve Sullentrup and Mark Hidritch supported the motion. By law, the city can spend money from the general fund to improve roads leading into the city, up to five miles beyond the city limits, City Administrator Jim Briggs pointed out. Last week, members of the Washington Area Highway Transportation Committee passed a motion recommending that the council seek proposals for the engineering study. That motion came after the committee heard appeals from family members of Ella J. Neier, 16, Washington, who died after her car ran off a section of the road and crashed into a large pond Oct. 22, 2010. The fatal crash occurred in an area known as the Augusta Parkway where the road changes from pavement in St. Charles County to gravel on the Warren County side. Warren County Coroner Roger Mauzy is working with the family in a campaign to get guardrails installed on the stretch where the large pond is located. He told the committee that $75,000 had been pledged for guardrails, but that some government agency must step up and agree to maintain them once they’re erected. After last week’s committee meeting, Briggs said the city received information that MoDOT has grant funds available through its Traffic Engineering Assistance Program (TEAP). One “caveat,” Briggs said, is that the government entity responsible for the road must be a party to the grant application. Since the fatal crash, Warren County commissioners have been adamant that even though the road lies in Warren County, the town of Augusta, in St. Charles County, is responsible for the Augusta Parkway because the town applied for federal assistance to rebuild the section near the ponds that was washed out in the 1993 and 1995 floods. Briggs said it’s estimated that the engineering study could be done for about $10,000. The TEAP grant would cover 80 percent. Briggs proposed that the city handle the grant application and pay the $2,000 match provided that Warren County and Augusta support the effort. “We would be the lead agency and bring them (Augusta and Warren County officials) together on this,” Briggs said. “It’s right for us to do that,” remarked Mayor Sandy Lucy. “It’s well worth the cost,” said Buddemeyer who noted many people use the road who work and shop in Washington. “I have no problem with doing the study,” Witt said, “but I don’t want to see the city responsible for that road. This should be a team effort, including Warren County and Augusta.” Witt said she doesn’t know how Warren County commissioners can claim they’re not responsible for a road that’s in their jurisdiction. “I don’t know how they can have a road but say they don’t want to deal with it,” she commented. At last week’s committee meeting, Mauzy argued that Warren County has to be responsible for that section of the road because it’s in Warren County, and the Warren County Sheriff’s Department and Marthasville Ambulance personnel responded to the fatal crash. Sullentrup agreed with Witt on just funding the study. He said what needs to be done to improve the road will cost a lot more than $75,000. “We need to do a lot of talking before we spend more than $2,000,” Sullentrup said. City Engineer Dan Boyce said the TEAP grants are awarded on a first-come, first-served basis, and that the city may be able to apply for the May funding cycle. In addition to the recommendation to seek proposals for the engineering study, the transportation committee passed a motion to send a letter to St. Charles County Council members asking them to post warning signs near where the pavement ends and the gravel portion begins.