GBA wins ACEC Missouri Engineering Excellence Honor Award for Church Street in Downtown Wentzville, Missouri

GBA was awarded an American Council of Engineering Companies of Missouri (ACEC MO) Engineering Excellence Honor Award for the Church Street Reconstruction project. An awards banquet was held Saturday Feb. 8 where Dan Shane accepted the award on behalf of GBA.

With deteriorating pavement, increased traffic volumes and a lack of pedestrian facilities, the reconstructed Church Street is now safely serving the public while complementing and enhancing this vibrant and changing area.

As part of a downtown revitalization study, the City of Wentzville chose Church Street as the first roadway infrastructure project programmed to implement recommendations from the study to a new planning district known as Village Center.  With the area located near I-70, it’s an important connection between Pearce Street and the interstate. In order to preserve the historic character of downtown while encouraging growth and development, aesthetics were an significant factor to City Officials and local business owners.

Wentzville selected GBA to provide professional engineering services for design of the reconstruction and enhancements including field and land survey, design of roadways, retaining walls, storm sewers, water line, street lighting, pavement marking, permanent signing and construction sequencing. GBA also provided landscape and streetscape architectural design services. Utility coordination and public involvement were important aspects of the project as well.

Communication presented one of the greatest challenges for the project with the multiple stakeholders that included City Officials, Public Works and Planning staff, the Downtown Village Center Enhancement Organization, business owners, utilities companies, and other consultants. Since enhancements to the area were a goal, public involvement was crucial. The Downtown Business Association was actively involved throughout all phases of the project.  Rose Lambi, Downtown Business Association President said, “The enhancement of Wentzville Village Center has been the focus of The Downtown Business Association as well as many other organizations in the community.  With the energy of many, we were able to enhance the Church Street project with a welcoming monument with personalized bricks from businesses, organizations and individuals.  This monument is visible when entering the Village Center at Church Street.”

The organization coordinated a “personalized brick” campaign as a fundraiser, and the bricks were incorporated into an entry monument structure designed by GBA which served as a brand for the “Village Center” district. A primary objective of the project was to

revitalize downtown Wentzville and make people want to visit. Church Street helped make that vision a reality with pedestrian friendly aspects such as sidewalks, multi-purpose trails, bike racks, park benches, decorative street lighting and landscaping. The project will be used as a template for future infrastructure projects associated with the Village Center.

The Church Street reconstruction and enhancements project exemplifies a solution for the upgrades to the transportation infrastructure, as well as provides a unique place which can be enjoyed by the residents, business owners and patrons throughout downtown Wentzville.