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ST. CHARLES COUNTY — St. Charles County officials say they have a plan to alleviate traffic congestion in the county’s “fastest growing area� along Highway N.

Highway N has become a hotbed of new development here, with more than 1,700 homes under construction, planned or already built along the two-lane roadway, west of Lake Saint Louis.

And more homes could be on the way, officials said, as developers make plans to transform the rolling grass pastures and rows of cornfields into new subdivisions in rural St. Charles County.

The county and the Missouri Department of Transportation are working on a plan to transform the “farm to market� rural highway into a four-lane roadway with roundabouts and traffic lights at key intersections between Lake Saint Louis Boulevard and Highway N’s intersection with Highway Z, officials said Wednesday.

The plan is still in development, but officials say they want it to include wider shoulders, bicycle paths, new sidewalks, trees, raised grass medians and changes to commercial access.

“This is a pretty big undertaking,� said MoDOT area engineer Andy Tuerck. “This is not a simple widening of the road, but a total reconstruction of the corridor.�

Highway N already sees more than 20,000 vehicles a day, according to MoDOT.

St. Charles County Executive Steve Ehlmann said Highway N is currently not as “efficient as we’d like it to be.�

“It is maybe going to get a little worse before it gets better,� Ehlmann said.

Three large-scale housing developments are under construction along Highway N: 460 homes in Autumn Hollow and more than 1,200 homes between Harvest at Hopewell and Villages at Post Farms.

Another development, Oakshire, is awaiting county consideration later this month. If approved, McBride Homes plans to build an additional 87 homes on an 18-acre property.

“We don’t tell people where they should live by building a road there first — and we try to not wait until it is a total traffic jam before we do anything,� Ehlmann said. “We try to strike a balance.�

But the project faces a big road block — securing state funding.

Amanda Brauer, St. Charles County’s transportation director, said the Highway N revamp is planned in phases and is projected to cost more than $131 million. A finalized design won’t be released until early next year, officials said.

The project is not included in the current draft of MoDOT’s Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan, an annual rolling list of projects the state plans to fund over the subsequent five years. But it is listed on MoDOT’s High Priority Unfunded Needs project list, said MoDot’s Tuerck.

Brauer said she is confident the Highway N work will be included in the state plan being released in May 2026.

“We’re really just trying to get funding for that first phase,� Brauer said. That phase, which stretches from Lake Saint Louis Boulevard to the intersection of Hopewell and Duello roads, is projected to cost $60 million.

A second phase, estimated at $11 million, would focus on Highway N west from Hopewell Road toward Forrester Drive. A third phase, which would include an extension of Buckner Road east toward Highway N, is expected to cost $60 million.

But Ehlmann, the St. Charles County’s longtime executive, said next year’s election and zoning changes could upend plans for the corridor. Ehlmann, who is not seeking re-election next year, said his replacement could also affect the county’s ability to garner state support to pay for and expedite the project.

“Bureaucrats have their timetable, the politicians have theirs,� he said. “I think it is going to depend on who is sitting in this chair. Are they going to be constantly pushing to do it, to do more, to do it faster, or are they going to take a different approach?�