Access to the majority of Roxie Road will be limited following a highway closure that begins Monday, Oct. 23.
A section of the road will be closed about one-quarter of a mile from Maud Street to allow for a large truck crossing, officials said Monday at a city council meeting.
It is not known how long the closure will last, said city manager Mark Massingham.
Emergency vehicles will be able to pass through the truck crossing, but residents will need to find alternate routes to homes on the other side, he said.
This will allow for work by construction crews building a 2.5 mile extension of Shelby Road.
The contractor will be working diligently to reopen the roadway to full traffic as soon as possible, Billy Cobb, of Smith and Company engineer firm, told city officials in an email.
Robertson Contractors broke ground on the approximately $10.4 million project in September. They have been given 18 months to complete the extension, which will connect Kanell Boulevard and Highway 53.
Access to western portions of Roxie Road is available through county roads that connect with South Westwood Boulevard.
County Road 468, near the former location of Dennis Outdoors, or County Road 471, which is near Westwood Hills Golf Course, can be used. Both county roads combine to become County Road 465, which then connects with Roxie Road.
In other business, the city council was updated on ongoing city projects, including the demolition of flood buyout properties and street repairs.
About half of the 10 homes purchased in the Hillcrest Park area have been torn down, Massingham said. The homes were purchased with state grant money to remove structures from flood-prone areas.
The city has also taken down three derelict properties in recent months.
Street department workers have overlaid a combined one-mile of city streets, at a cost of about $85,000, Massingham said. An addition $50,000 has been budgeted this year for the repair of concrete streets, he said.
Work is continuing on improvements to the C Street railroad crossing and should be complete by mid-November, said city planner Dennis Avery. Union Pacific will have an additional phase of improvements to complete in the late winter or early spring, he said.
The work is being done in advance of the closure of the B Street railroad crossing by Union Pacific. UP has said it will keep B Street open until work on C Street is complete.
The city council also discussed and moved to the Nov. 6 action agenda: the annexation of property at 2848 Kanell Boulevard, owned by Larry and Jan Rommel; lease of farmland at Poplar Bluff airport; and rezoning of property 3211 N. Westwood from residential to general commercial. The property is owned by Larry Hillis Dodge.
The council voted: on a road relinquishment agreement with the Missouri Highways and Transportation Commission for a portion of Herschel Bess Boulevard; and to re-subdivide unused property in the Eight Points development.
Council member Susan McVey was absent.