St. Mary’s Road to close Sept. 7-9 to improve access to MDC’s Chouteau Claim Access

FRANKLIN Co. — The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is funding a road improvement program on St. Mary’s Road in Franklin County that will enhance public access to its Chouteau Claim Access. 

To accommodate the work, St. Mary’s Road will close Sept. 7-9 making Chouteau Claim Access inaccessible during that time.  Weather permitting, the improved road should reopen Sept. 10.  

The access, which is owned and maintained by MDC, is located at the confluence of the Bourbeuse and Meramec Rivers in Franklin County.  St. Mary’s Road is owned and maintained by Franklin County, who will be performing the work.

The project is funded through the MDC County Aid Road Trust Program (CART).  It is a cooperative cost-share program with counties, townships, and special road districts administered by MDC to apply maintenance rock on county roadways enrolled in the program.  CART funding focuses on roads that go through or are adjacent to MDC-managed lands.  The purpose is to improve roads and make it easier for the public to access conservation areas.

The St. Mary’s Road work is a chip and seal project.  MDC is providing the funding for the chip and seal materials and Franklin County is supplying the equipment and labor to complete construction of the new driving surface.

Counties wanting to explore the possibility of enrolling roads with conservation areas or access in the CART program should contact 573-522-4115, ext. 3722, or email Annie.Kittrell@mdc.mo.gov.  All requests for cost share through CART are reviewed to verify the area has significant impact on the roadway to determine if funding is appropriate.

During the St. Mary’s Road closure, the public can use the following alternative accesses:

Bourbeuse River

• Uhlemeyer Access (https://short.mdc.mo.gov/Zuf)

Meramec River

• River Round Access, upstream (https://short.mdc.mo.gov/ZuY)
• Robertsville State Park, downstream (https://short.mdc.mo.gov/Zug)