Improvements planned for downtown Sikeston

SIKESTON, Mo. -- In late August, Sikeston will start a number of improvements to its downtown area.

Funded in part by a Missouri Transportation Enhancement grant, the project will include new concrete crosswalks and sidewalks, period street lighting, street furniture and landscaping along Front Street and a portion of North Kings¿highway and Front to Center streets.

During the construction phase of this project, the city will also install new curbs and gutters and make associated repairs to the brick streets.

Planning for these improvements started in early 2007 as a committee composed of Historic Midtown Development Group representatives, city and board of municipal utilities officials and the city's engineer developed and submitted the transportation grant proposal.

By October the Missouri Highway and Transportation Department approved the project and authorized the city's engineer to proceed with development of final engineering plans. In the past nine months, these plans have been completed, reviewed and approved by the Department of Transportation. Authorization to proceed with the bid process was received last week.

Residents have questioned why there has been a delay in repairing the brick streets. "What we are doing is maximizing the use of our citizen's dollars," city manager Doug Friend said. There was no doubt the city would be incurring the costs to repair these streets, especially as each individual brick must be removed by hand.

By incorporating these costs with other improvements associated specifically with the grant, such as concrete crosswalks, new curbs and gutters, this original money now serves the dual purpose of providing the city's required matching funds for the $233,300 project, Friend said.

Work on the sidewalk and street improvements is slated to begin late August. November is the targeted completion date.

Once completed, downtown Sikeston will have smoother brick streets, concrete ADA-compliant crosswalks, new sidewalks, period lighting and landscaping, Friend said.