Ameren held a pair of open house events on Oct. 22 to help Montgomery and Warren county residents be informed about the 22-mile Crossroads Connector Project that will start construction next year.

The open houses were held at the Mary Lou Community Center in Truesdale and the Jonesburg Community Building. Numerous Ameren employees were at both places to answer questions about the two-phase project.

The first phase of the project is four miles long and will run through the New Florence area. The second phase is 18 miles long and starts at New Florence and ends at Warrenton.

Harman Ormani, who is the project manager for Phase 2, said there were mixed feelings about the project, which led Ameren to set up an event that would give residents an opportunity to share their input.

“People wanted to learn about the project,” Ormani said. “That’s why we had an open house to give them a chance to know about the project.”

The Truesdale open house ran during the morning and the Jonesburg open house ran during the evening. Both open houses featured a large map of the Crossroads Connector Project. There was no formal presentation in each of them.

“We generally just look for venues in the area that would be pretty centrally located and where the project is going to take place,” Ameren Communications Manager Evan Asher said.

There are four substations in the project – Montgomery, Lumberjack, Nightingale and Float. The Montgomery, Lumberjack and Nightingale substations will be located in the New Florence area, while Float will be located in Warrenton.

Phase 1 includes constructing four miles of new 345 kV double circuit transmission line to connect the new Lumberjack substation southeast of New Florence to the existing Montgomery-Callaway 345 kV transmission line located west of the city. It will have a single-steel, self-supporting monopole that will be between 100 and 140 feet.

Phase 2 includes constructing 18 miles of new 345 kV double circuit transmission line and the Float substation. The new line will connect the Float substation to the new Nightingale and Lumberjack substations.

“The project was first developed towards the end of last year,” Ormani said. “That’s when the discussion started. After that, it went through a study in the area and how much capacity that Ameren has for the new development in the area and what needs to be done.”

Leslie Tindall, Ameren’s Project Manager for Phase 1, said the project will strengthen the energy grid to improve dependability for all customers in the area.

“I think one thing to realize is it helps the reliability in the area,” she said. “We tell them we’re willing to work with them on their land and the location of the underland. I think it opens it up to more positivity.”

Pre-construction work will start in 2027. The project is scheduled to be in service the following year.