The condition of Mexico’s roads is one of the most common complaints about infrastructure that the city receives. 

But as construction from the stormwater infrastructure improvement projects winds down, the City of Mexico and MoDOT are taking steps to improve city roads. 

The city received two large grants from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources as part of the American Rescue Plan Act. The government funded ARPA grants were implemented in 2021 as a COVID relief program and covers a broad scope including stormwater infrastructure improvements. Deputy City Manager and Public Works Director, Drew Williford, said communities like Mexico were finally able to utilize this COVID funding. 

“The city applied for one grant at 21% match and another grant at a simple $1 match,” Williford said. 

He added that the city applied for both thinking that it would only receive one — the 21% match grant being the more likely scenario — but the city ended up getting both for a total project cost of roughly $7 million.

“As far as initially projected, we’re spending around the $400,000-500,000 range,” Williford said, adding that with some change orders, it will be closer to $800,000. “If we spend $800,000, we’re getting $7 million out of that local money.”

Official plans for construction began in December 2024. Mexico City Council met once on Dec. 9 and again in a special session with DNR on Dec. 19 to sign off on the allocation of federal funding. 

Williford said the stormwater projects are wrapping up, which will allow the city to focus on road repaving projects.

Paving the way to better infrastructure

Approximately six locations were approved as grant-eligible — the two biggest projects being Curtis Street and Kentucky Street, which was recently paved. Paving on Curtis was supposed to occur in early May, but unexpected project delays and weather postponed plans. 

“We’ve now been in the rainy season for quite some time,” Williford said. “Once we get out of that period of time here, we’ll see some asphalt removed and asphalt placed on Curtis Street, and we should see quite an improvement throughout that whole area, not just in aesthetics, but functionality.”

Williford said the cost of paving Mexico's roads is not necessarily covered under the ARPA grant funds, but there were certain exceptions when it directly affected stormwater infrastructure. That being said, the work provided an opportunity for the city to extend the contracts of those already working in Mexico to include some road repaving. 

Recent city-funded street repaving projects include West Jackson Street, between North Clark Street and South Muldrow Street, and West Liberty Street, between South Muldrow Street and South Morris Street.

The city has a couple options for asphalt. In previous years, the city tested asphalt that was reinforced with fiber along West Promenade Street between Clark Street and Muldrow Street. Williford said the city chose one of two fiber options they were aware of at the time as a test project, but he was not satisfied with the results. 

“We were surprised at seeing the asphalt crack, even just three months into its lifespan,” Williford said, adding that the standard expectation for asphalt cracking is about half an inch per year. “We’re hoping to test the competitor fiber with the Curtis Street project, and if the theories are all correct, by doing this, it expands the lifecycle of the asphalt pavement.”

Kentucky Street was recently paved with standard asphalt that is not reinforced with fiber, so Williford refers to it as the project’s "control."

“I don’t mind testing new technology,” Williford said. “That’s one of the things that I want to keep our city on the forefront of.”

The City of Mexico also has several urban agreements with MoDOT specifying which entity maintains which roads. Some of the state-maintained roads will also be repaved.

According to a news release from MoDOT, two resurfacing projects are expected to begin as early as this week. Contractor crews are expected to start on Route NN, from Route 22 near Mexico to the end of state maintenance. The work will continue on Route 22 from 0.1 mile west of Route E near Thompson to Morris Street.

“We all are thrilled about getting to the end of this,” Williford said. “This is more work in the last 12-month period than in my nine years prior combined.”