The real timeline
2027 is land. 2028 is building.
The land year
2027
Buying land
In 2027, the County starts buying the strips of land the wider road needs — $7.5 million is set aside for it. This is the part that reaches people's property along Highway N. (Officials call it "right-of-way.")
The build year
2028
Building
The contract to build the eastern half is set for 2028, and the County hopes to have the new lanes open around 2029.
The County has publicly pushed for a "2027 groundbreaking." But 2027 is the year land gets bought — the money to actually build is set for 2028. If either date moves, we'll post it here, with the proof.
For the detail-minded: the state lists the build date as a regular calendar year, so "2028" means 2028 — not a fiscal year that would start in mid-2027. If the state moves it up, the tracker below changes the day we see it.
Sources: County announcement · MoDOT Route N project page · The STIP entry itself (St. Louis District schedule, PDF) · MoDOT STIP home
Where it stands
Milestone tracker
Every phase of the widening — credited where it's real, pressed where residents have a stake. This is the whole campaign.
It's in the state's official 5-year road plan
Missouri's transportation department (MoDOT) has put the Highway N widening — Hopewell Road to Hawk Ridge Trail — into its five-year road-building plan. Getting on that plan is the hard part, and it's a public promise to build. This is on it.
The County has put real money in
St. Charles County has committed more than $46 million from the local transportation sales tax — and the County Council even shelved another road project to move Highway N up the line.
The money to build the eastern half is lined up
The 2.48-mile stretch from Hopewell Road to Hawk Ridge Trail — the part carrying most of the new homes — has its construction money in place, from two sources: about $24 million in state funds, and about $56.5 million from the County plus a federal grant. The design work is already done and paid for, and money for land and building is set aside for 2027 and 2028. One piece still needs a final yes-vote from the regional transportation board (East-West Gateway) on August 26, 2026 — that's the date we're watching.
When they buy land for the road, neighbors deserve a fair deal
A wider road needs more land — strips of yards and frontage along Highway N will be bought from the people who live there. The County has set aside $7.5 million to start buying in 2027, about 18 months from now. Most of us signing on don't own an inch of what's needed — this is about how our neighbors get treated. We're asking the County and MoDOT to: tell affected owners early and in person, not with a surprise letter; pay a fair price backed by an honest, independent appraisal; and take as little land as the road actually needs. Some of those neighbors don't want to sell at all — they deserve straight answers, not pressure. (Officials call this phase "right-of-way.")
The dangerous intersection still needs its traffic light
The County rebuilt the Hopewell/Duello intersection and said a traffic signal would follow in 2026. We drove out and checked on July 4 — still no light. With building years off and the road staying two lanes until around 2029, the corridor's busiest new intersection needs that signal now — plus better-timed lights and a real plan to handle traffic once the road is torn up.
The other half of the road has no money yet
The plan is to widen four miles, but only the eastern half — Hopewell Road to Hawk Ridge Trail — has building money. The western half, Ebert Lane to Hopewell Road, has none yet, and that's where a lot of our neighbors live. We're asking the County, MoDOT, and the regional board: when does the western half get funded too?
Building starts in 2028, lanes open around 2029
The contract to build the eastern half is set for 2028, and the County hopes to open the new lanes around 2029. Until then, it stays two lanes. We're watching that the 2028 date holds — and that the region doesn't lose the federal money by missing its own deadlines, which has happened to other projects.
Checked monthly. Last checked: July 6, 2026 · Next check: August 1, 2026
Take action
Two minutes. That's the ask.
Sign the petition
Tell MoDOT and the County: treat neighbors fairly when they buy land for the road, make the Hopewell/Duello intersection safe now, and don't let the 2028 build date slip. Numbers are what get read into the record at public meetings.
Sign on Change.orgHeads up: after you sign, Change.org may ask you to "chip in." That money goes to Change.org, the platform — not to us. We don't take donations, period.
Get milestone alerts
We email only when something on the tracker changes — a date moves, funding closes, a meeting is scheduled. No spam, no fundraising, ever.
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Spread the word
Put it on the road
Car magnets and yard signs, priced at cost: the printer's base price plus a small buffer so taxes and card fees don't cancel your order. Any leftover cents buy more. We don't fundraise off this, and we don't take donations. The road is the message board.
Straight talk on shipping: magnets are flat and cheap to mail. Yard signs are bulky, and the print-on-demand shipping on a single sign is steep — sometimes more than the sign. That's the carrier's charge, not ours; we still make nothing. If you want a sign, a magnet's the lighter-footprint way to fly the same message.
Highway N Now
Still 2 lanes. 1,700 more homes.
HighwayNNow.com
Not on sale yet
We're waiting on a sample. Before we sell a single magnet or sign, we check a physical proof and read it from 30 feet away — if it's not sharp, we reorder. Target: on sale by late July 2026.
Want to know the day they go live? Join the milestone alerts above — that list hears first.