State to improve 6 miles of Jackson sidewalks

The Missouri Department of Transportation will spend much of the next year upgrading all existing sidewalks along East and West Jackson Boulevard.

Public Works director Rodney Bollinger said roughly six miles of sidewalk will be upgraded.

The narrow, uneven asphalt path that's used as a sidewalk isn't a sidewalk at all, according to MoDOT.

"Basically, what's out there now was designed to be an urban shoulder. It shouldn't be a sidewalk," MoDOT area engineer Brian Okenfuss said. "Essentially, they've been used as sidewalks, but they're not [compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act], and there are cracks in the asphalt."

So for the sake of accessibility and safety, MoDOT will install an ADA-compliant pathway.

"We'll remove the asphalt portion of the sidewalk and replace it with concrete," he said.

Rather than entering into a cost-sharing agreement with the city as often happens, the project is being funded entirely by MoDOT. The bidding process is scheduled to begin in May, so a price tag for the project hasn't been set.

The upgrade comes on the heels of another pedestrian-friendly project -- extension of the Hubble Creek Recreation Trail announced in January. Although neither project will be completed before at least 2017, once they are, Jackson pedestrians will have more than 9 miles of paths.

Once construction begins, the Jackson Boulevard upgrades will take considerable time.

"Construction should start in July, and it will last until next year," Okenfuss said. "There are so many sidewalks that it's just not reasonable to get all of it done in one year."

That means construction will run concurrently with another major MoDOT project beginning this year -- the uptown roundabout.

Okenfuss, however, said conflicting detour routes won't be a problem.

"It won't have any direct effect on [the roundabout project]," Okenfuss said. "Certainly we'll have two different contractors in the area so they'll have to coordinate, but ... we really shouldn't have any closure-type things. You really shouldn't see too much conflict between the two."

tgraef@semissourian.com

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