New crosswalk designed to boost safety in Jefferson City

Councilman in Jefferson City are set to decide who the bid will go to for the Dunklin crosswalk project at tonight’s meeting. Although public works officials say it’s one of the small projects they are working on, they say it’s extremely important because it invovles the safety of pedestrians.

“Whenever we cross by we just spend time looking at the cars”, says Dhareshwar Sowmiaru, who walks across Dunklin everyday.

At lunch hour when everyone is rushing out of the Missouri Division of Employment Security building to grab a bite to eat, they try to avoid traffic while crossing the street. While some drivers stop, others don’t

“There are a lot of people trying to cut across the street already so we’re trying to firm up where you need to be crossing so vehicles can see you when you’re doing that”, says Matt Morasch, Director of Public Works for Jefferson City. Morasch says their office wasasked by the state to add a crosswalk to the area right in front of the building, leading from the offices, to the parking lot.

This project is estimated to cost a little more than $39 thousand dollars. Morasch says, “it will have flashing lights, similar to a downtown crossing although this one will flash at peak pedestrian times automatically and then also just during the day if it’s not flashing you can hit a button and it will come on”.

Prajesh Kunimal says he’s excited about it, “That will be great actually”.

Sowmiaru agrees, “If there is a cross walk we won’t have to be worried, people will stop for us, cars will stop for us, so that will be helpful”

Jefferson City Public Works officials say that once the project gets started, they hope it’s completed by this winter.