Closing of Augusta Bottom Road frustrates a lot of travelers

Source: St.迷你倉新蒲崗 Louis Post-DispatchSept. 06--UPDATED at 11:30 a.m. Friday with information on some drivers ignoring barricadesAUGUSTA --About 150 people packed into a school gym Thursday night to express frustration with and ask questions about this southwest St. Charles County town's recent closing of part of Augusta Bottom Road."It's day in and day out, traveling back and forth," said Melissa Adrian, who uses the thoroughfare to take her children to school in Washington across the Missouri River in Franklin County. "It would be ridiculous to keep that road closed permanently."In an apparent reference to the road's role as a shortcut between the two communities, Adrian added: "If there's an emergency with my kids, this mom's going to take the bottom road."Brian Watson, also of Augusta, cited Augusta Bottom's scenic features."It's an environmentally friendly, nice open area," he said.The town last month posted barricades on each side of a small segment of the road in neighboring Warren County after losing insurance coverage for the stretch after a settlement with the family of a teen killed in a crash.Augusta and Washington helped pay for rebuilding the segment after the Great Flood of 1993 over the objections of Warren County, which wanted the road closed.Augusta's municipal attorney, Mark Piontek, said the town could face bankruptcy "if there's another accident and the town gets sued again" without insurance coverage.A wrongful death suit was filed last year by the family of Ella Neier, 16, of Washington, after she died in the 2010 accident. Police said her car skidded off the segment of the road, known as Augusta Parkway, and into a pond.Augusta agreed in June to pay a yet-to-be-disclosed settlement. The case against the other defendants, including St. Charles and Warren counties and Washington, is pending.There was little criticism of Augusta officials at the meeting Thursday night, called by St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann and County Councilman Joe Brazil, R-Defiance.Instead, they and others repeated complaints about Warren County officials' 迷你倉出租efusal to install guardrails and make other improvements to the road. St. Charles County in recent years has spent $1.5 million on its section, including guardrails and two new bridges. Ehlmann said he'd continue to urge Warren County officials to help out."This is certainly not a very good example of regionalism," Ehlmann said. "Right now we need them. There may come a day down the road where they need us."Brazil, responding to a question from Augusta area farmer Rick Rehmeier, said St. Charles County in contrast maintains parts of other roads in its territory even though they're used primarily by Warren County residents.Warren County Presiding Commissioner Arden Engelage said in an interview Wednesday that the disputed segment of Augusta Bottom isn't his county's responsibility because Augusta and Washington had rebuilt the stretch over his county's opposition."Where our road used to be (in that area) is under water," he said.Brazil said the meeting, at Augusta Elementary School, was called to gauge public response to Augusta's request that St. Charles County close its part of the road.Most in the crowd raised their hands when Brazil asked how many oppose that idea.SOME USE ROAD ANYWAYBrazil, who contends that Augusta had no legal authority to block the road, said some people have been driving around the barricades."I'm one of them," he said in an interview. "People are ignoring it fairly routinely."Others at times have even dragged the barricades off the road, Lynn Hofer, whose husband is chairman of the town board, said Friday.She said she checks on the stretch regularly and has often had to put the barricades back in place.Engelage, the Warren County official, said his county's sheriff's department has not been enforcing the closure so far but that doing so might be considered."We probably will be talking to our prosecutor to see if we did (issue) tickets, would he prosecute?" Engelage said Wednesday.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at .stltoday.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉