Community Corner
Meramec River Forces More Road Closings, Damages Bridge Work
Ferry Street in Fenton is set to close today while part of Gravois Road bridge support is knocked sideways
The rising Meramec River is forcing Fenton to expand its list of closed roads.
Ferry Street, in Olde Towne, was expected to be closed this morning due to high water, City Administrator Mark Sartors, said.
“Not because the whole road is closed, but because of low spots where cars are not going to be able to drive through,” Sartors said. “We got lucky. Originally we were supposed to be about five feet below the 2008 flood, and now it looks like it's not going to be a whole lot more than the nuisance floods we typically get in the spring and fall.”
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The River Road at Yarnell and Larkin Williams roads was closed Tuesday. The river level was at 21.7 feet in Valley Park at 9 am. Wednesday and is expected to crest at 23.3 feet sometime Thursday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
Sartors said businesses along Gravois Road in Olde Towne are not threatened by rising waters from Fenton Creek or the Meramec.
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He added that the latest predictions indicate the area is supposed to “out of flood stage by sometime Monday (May 2).”
“But that is always subject to change depending on what kind of rain we get from now until then and depending on what kind of rain everybody else gets,” Sartors said. “But right now the river is moving real well so I don't think we have a lot to worry about as far as backups just yet.”
The swift moving Meramec has already halted work on the new Gravois Road bridge, and even caused damage to a support pier being installed for the bridge. Work on the bridge is being overseen by the St. Louis County Department of Public Works and spokesman David Wrone said damage appears to be light.
Steel reinforcement bar (re-bar) is part of the support columns for the bridge deck and two are located in the Meramec, Wrone said. The re-bar rises vertically from a base under the water and concrete is eventually poured around the re-bar to form the columns, Wrone said.
A log and other debris struck the re-bar column in question and seems to have bent it askew recently, Wrone said, and nothing can be done to inspect or repair the re-bar until the water recedes.
Wrone added the same thing happened months ago to another column but it was slightly damaged and merely bent back to shape.