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O’FALLON, Mo. — A one-page list of possible road improvements could have major implications for how and where the city of O’Fallon grows over the next several years.

The O’Fallon City Council is set to vote next week on a thoroughfare improvement plan — a list of roughly 20 street projects that city leaders say would help facilitate and accommodate the anticipated building boom and waves of new residents coming to the city.

O’Fallon is already one of Missouri’s fastest growing cities — going from roughly 50,000 residents in 2000 to more than 95,000 people in 2025. Leaders here say the city is poised to keep growing, and should soon be one of only seven Missouri cities with a population greater than 100,000.

The vast majority of the projects identified in the plan are on the west side of Interstate 64 (Highway 40), where hundreds of new homes have been built in recent years. Among the new subdivisions being built in that area are the Villages at Busch Wildlife, a 239-home development built along Highway DD. Construction is also underway on the Villages at Post Farms, a 307-home subdivision located near the intersection of Hopewell and Duello roads.

Road projects are described in the thoroughfare plan in generic terms, including “new arterial construction,” “existing principal arterial improvements,” “new minor arterial improvements,” and “new local road construction.”

Ethan Hendricks, a planning manager for the city, said it is too early to know if that means widening streets, adding additional sidewalks or building new turn lanes.

“We don’t have any preliminary designs or anything like that for these projects,” Hendricks said. “We just know that these roads are going to have some kind of an improvement at some point. As far as what that looks like we just don’t know.”

Hendricks said city staff hasn’t compiled cost estimates for any of the projects, nor do they have a construction timeline for when the roads may be built.

He reiterated that point to the city’s zoning commission at a meeting Thursday.

“None of these are definite or even planned,” he said. “These are just what the staff would like to see, and everything could change. This is just to get some ideas out there.”

The commission recommended approval for the plan, which was last updated in 2021.

Some projects included in the transportation plan have been on the list have been talked about for years, such as extending Lake Saint Louis Boulevard south toward Highway DD and Diehr Road. Other potential projects include the anticipated widening of existing roadways, such as Highway DD and Highway N, that have become clogged with traffic due to new subdivisions and commercial development in the area.

Others are newer concepts, such as extending the south outer road along the Streets of Caledonia development and connect it to Highway DD. Or extending Market Center Boulevard to connect into an intersection with O’Fallon Road and Highway K, a project that would create more commercial development areas for the city, Hendricks said.

Another new proposal, Hendricks told the city’s planning commission, is to build a street connecting Sports Drive and the south outer road for Highway 364. This is where Mercy Hospital purchased 52 acres more than a decade ago for a potential hospital or medical campus.

Some of the potential projects identified on the city’s north side include extending Sonderen Street north and connecting it into the intersection of Main and Third streets. Other projects include extending Stonecrop Drive south toward Highway P and Deer Creek Drive.