Telegraph Road's Repaving Comes Last. In Oakville, the Work Started at the Curb in April.
October 8, 2026
October 8, 2026
Pull up MoDOT's project page for Telegraph Road between Franru Lane and the Meramec River and the construction milestone still reads "Not Started," above a timeline that says construction begins in Fall 2025. MoDOT's own contractor records give a different date. Pace Construction Company began work on the corridor on April 22, 2026, and the latest pay estimate, dated September 15, 2026, shows 8.82% of the contract amount complete.
That low number says a lot about how the next year on Telegraph will go. Five months in, the crews are still on sidewalks, ramps and driveway aprons. The intersection rebuilds and the fresh asphalt most people picture when they hear "Telegraph project" are still ahead. So for this fall, the work shows up mostly at night and at the edge of the road.
Telegraph is really two MoDOT jobs right now. The line between them is Franru Lane.
| City of St. Louis line to Franru | Franru to the Meramec River | |
|---|---|---|
| Prime contractor | N.B. West Contracting Company | Pace Construction Company, LLC |
| Original contract | $13,545,000 | $15,901,777 |
| Work began | March 2, 2026 | April 22, 2026 |
| Contract amount complete as of Sept. 15, 2026 | 24.49% | 8.82% |
| Contract completion date | October 1, 2027 | June 1, 2027 |
The southern contract was close. Pace's low bid at the August 15, 2025 letting came in at $15,901,777, about $156,000 below Gershenson's $16,057,718.85. N.B. West bid $16,695,000 on that segment and Byrne & Jones bid $18,679,245.96. A month later N.B. West won the northern job with a $13,545,000 low bid.
If you drive the full length of Telegraph, you pass through both work zones. They started seven weeks apart, and the northern job has billed nearly three times the share of its contract that the southern job has.
The percentage measures contract dollars billed, not how much of the road is finished. Still, the itemized records show where those dollars went. Through September 15, the logged work on the southern segment was ADA sidewalk, curb ramp and driveway-approach construction around 5912 and 5826 Telegraph Road, Bear Creek Drive, Tel Haven Court, Belle Terre Court and Towne Woods Drive.
That fits the order MoDOT laid out from the beginning. Crews update the signals and pedestrian facilities first and resurface the road after. MoDOT says every sidewalk and crosswalk north of Christopher needs upgrading to meet current Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, and some sidewalk gaps will be connected along the way. Repaving waits until the rest is done.
For anyone whose driveway opens onto Telegraph, this is the phase that matters most. MoDOT's description of the project's impacts is specific:
"Residential driveways are too small to complete half at a time – driveways will need to be closed for several days when they are being worked on. We anticipate that the contractor will be able to share a general timeframe when they anticipate being in the area -- probably about a week or two in advance."
Businesses get different treatment. Those with more than one driveway keep at least one entrance open the whole time, and crews work on half of a single-entrance driveway at a time so it never fully closes. Your regular stops along Telegraph should stay reachable even when the curb in front of them is torn up. Your own driveway may not be, for a few days.
Six intersections on the southern segment are slated to be rebuilt, not just re-striped:
The rest of the signals on the corridor get updated as well. MoDOT hasn't published which rebuild comes first or when. Neither the pay estimates nor the weekly traffic notices give a sequence. Whatever the order, those six rebuilds and the final resurfacing are where most of the remaining contract will be spent.
The current lane closures do give a hint of where crews are concentrated. MoDOT's weekly work-zone report for September 24–30 listed one northbound and one southbound lane closed on Route 231 from Erb Road to Yaeger Road, and again from Baumgartner to Black Forest Avenue, from 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. on September 30. The October 1–7 report repeats both stretches with the same overnight hours for Thursday, October 1. Both stretches end at intersections on the rebuild list, though MoDOT's documents spell those two roads differently from page to page. These are lane restrictions, not a full closure of Telegraph, and MoDOT publishes the list fresh each week, weather permitting, so next week's stretches may be different.
MoDOT's general guidance for the project says lane closures will come during non-peak hours. In practice, a 6 p.m. drive home on Telegraph looks much like it always has. A 10 p.m. drive back from a game or a late shift between Erb and Yaeger is where you're more likely to meet cones.
The bike lane stays. MoDOT says most of the corridor already has an unprotected bike lane that will remain. Between Sappington Barracks and Franru, the department is proposing a section that would connect to a planned bike lane on the northern part of Route 231.
There are three end dates for the southern segment, and they don't match. The Pace contract lists June 1, 2027 as both its original and current completion date. The project page's timeline says Fall 2027, and MoDOT's 2026–2027 Southwest St. Louis County Construction Guide says work continues through late 2027. The contract date is the one Pace is bound to. The guide gives the northern project the same late-2027 window, and N.B. West's contract runs to October 1, 2027. Either way, expect at least one more full season of orange barrels on Telegraph.
The schedule has already slipped once. A February 2024 Call Newspapers preview expected work to start in mid-2025 and finish that fall. The real start date turned out to be April 2026.
The lane closures run overnight and the driveway work moves block by block, so October's daytime and early-evening calendar along Telegraph goes on as usual. Here's what's coming up on or just off the road:
The Cliff Cave Branch sits a few hundred address numbers north of the 5826 and 5912 Telegraph blocks where the pay records show recent sidewalk work. If the library is your regular stop, you may see new ramps and crosswalks before anything else. The St. Francis picnic's family day runs until 10 p.m., past the 7 p.m. start time the recent overnight closures have used. Check MoDOT's weekly work-zone list before you head home that night.
If Telegraph construction has you wondering how it might affect your home's value or your timing to sell, Stacy Deutschmann follows these south county projects closely and can walk you through it. Let's connect, whether you want a free valuation or just a clearer picture of what's being built on your block.
Let me guide you through the complexities of buying or selling your home, eliminating hassles and stress. I look forward to working with you!