A project for improvements to the intersection of Route N and Hawk Ridge Trail may make the site more attractive for potential developers, say O'Fallon city staffers.

Plans for a new Menards store near that intersection fell through late last year.

READ MORE: Menards No Longer Plans to Build in O'Fallon

The defunct Menards development plan straddled the border of Lake Saint Louis and O'Fallon, with the actual store in O'Fallon and the outlots and access road in Lake Saint Louis.

Both cities are jointly applying for funding for the project, which will widen part of Hawk Ridge Trail and add turn lanes and through lanes to the current intersection.

Plans also call for a roundabout to Old Highway N and Hawk Ridge Trail and sidewalks.

City staff noted that the project is even more important with Phase 3 of the Page Avenue Extension bringing the new highway to a terminus at Highway N.

"This intersection will be the first traffic signal that vehicles coming from the new Page Avenue will have to go through after crossing Highway 40 (I-64)," city documents state.

The cities are looking at funding the $1.8 million project from MoDOT Cost Share funds, Federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) funds, and County Road Board funds:

• MoDOT Cost Share: $630,000
• Federal CMAQ: $600,000
• County Road Board: $470,000
• Lake Saint Louis: $50,000
• O’Fallon: $50,000

If funding is approved, the cities would enter into an Intergovernmental Agreement after meetings finalize the details.

Once funding and the agreement are in place, plans call for right-of-way acquisition to start in the Fall of 2014 and construction in the Fall of 2015.