Workers construct the walls for a new branch of First Bank of Missouri on Monday. The new location is just north of the present branch at Lake Avenue and Cherokee Street.

First Bank of Missouri has began construction on a new South Side branch to replace its aging facility and alleviate traffic hazards.

The expanded new facility is being built on a parking lot just north of the present branch location at Lake Avenue and Cherokee Street.

After construction is completed in the fall, the old facility — a 105-year-old building and site of St. Joseph’s first bank drive-through — will be leveled into the new bank’s parking lot.

Ron Barbosa, the bank’s senior vice president, said construction on the new site eliminates a longtime traffic hazard at the intersection, which has included errant vehicles crashing into the bank. The driving lane on Lake Avenue zigs right and then left at the Cherokee Street intersection.

Mr. Barbosa also said First Bank of Missouri has its original roots in the South Side.

“The customer base is so loyal. We take for granted that part of town,” he said. “We want to give these customers a state-of-the-art facility.”

The new branch will have three drive-through tellers, an ATM and will be handicap-accessible. First Bank of Missouri has three other branches in St. Joseph.

Despite a recession, construction on the new branch began in April. Mr. Barbosa said plans were conceived two years ago and would not have taken place if they were put forth in the current economic downturn.

The facility began as Drovers and Merchant’s Bank in 1904. It later became the Mercantile Bank, Bank of St. Joseph and in the mid-1980s, the First Bank of Missouri.

Ahmad Safi can be reached at ahmadsafi@npgco.com.