A new sidewalk on Broadway Street may open as soon as today.
The sidewalk on the east side of the 900 block of Broadway Street in Jefferson City, about a block from South Elementary School, was completed last week, but City Engineer David Bange said there were some final things the contractor, Concrete Solution LLC, had to do - such as planting grass next to the sidewalk - Monday.
Bange said Concrete Solution still has some fencing to put up but would be doing cleanup work Monday afternoon, meaning pedestrians may be able to use the sidewalk today.
The Jefferson City Council approved a $130,365 contract with Concrete Solution LLC in June.
The 900 block of Broadway Street was the only section without a sidewalk, so pedestrians crossed the street to walk on the western sidewalk. This was considered unsafe to pedestrians, especially students, since a sharply crested hill causes limited visibility over its peak.
"The speed limit is about 35 miles per hour, but the sight distance you can see over that hill is very limited," Bange said. "There's only about 125 feet from the top of the hill to where people normally cross, so with a person traveling at the speed limit, you could come over the top of the hill and encounter a pedestrian very quickly. The sidewalk now essentially allows that person who's walking on the eastern side of the street to just stay on the eastern side of the street in that block, so we've created a situation where people don't need to cross the street there on either side of that steep hill."
The project was funded by the public improvements section of the Community Development Block Grant
program. Bange said the project cost a little more than expected because the contractor could not reuse some retaining walls. However, remaining CDBG funds covered those project overruns.
Concrete Solution started the project in mid-August. The city originally anticipated the project would be completed before school started, but the city agreed to push it back because Concrete Solution was working on other projects, Bange said.