Crews start work to repair collapsed Jefferson City road after heavy rain

Crews drilled on South Lincoln Street on Friday as the first step in figuring out how to repair the road that collapsed after heavy rains last month.

Right now, the short stretch of the road located just off East High Street is shut down as it is severely cracked and sunken.

Jefferson City Public Works said several rainfalls in early May led to the failure of an embankment of a portion of the street’s 200 block.

The City Council approved a nearly $62,000 contract with Gredell Engineering Resources to come up with a design to stabilize the road.

That is only a small part of the total estimated cost to fix the issue.

“Our current cost estimate for the project is somewhere between $600,000-$700,000 overall,” said Britt Smith with Public Works.

Smith said the city hopes to be reimbursed through federal disaster relief aid funds for part of the project. But the rest will likely have to come from the city’s general fund.

But with the city’s small stormwater budget of $360,000 a year, Smith said the money will have to come from someplace else.

“The city does have savings accounts, fund balances for emergencies and that’s what this is,” Smith said. “But at the same time, it’s the council’s decision as to how to expend funds and what the priorities are. We’re going to work with them to develop that, and we’ll figure out where the money will come from.”

Last month, the city council voted against putting a stormwater utility fee on the August ballot to help fix flooding and other issues across the city.

Public Works Director Matt Morasch has previously said that without the fee, it is nearly impossible for the department to get ahead of strormwater issues, considering the current budget.

The road is expected to remain closed through the rest of the summer.