East High Street to see new improvements

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Jefferson City and Cole County are working on a joint project that will improve East High Street from Locust Street to Vetter Lane.

The construction will include a new sewer main and sewer laterals, wider sidewalks, modular block retaining walls, a new crosswalk and an asphalt overlay.

Liliana Sanders, who walks her brother to school down E High Street almost every day, said this project is much needed.

"I have to walk my little brother to school and halfway there the sidewalks get really uneven and get hard to walk on," Sanders said. "There's like places that look like they're about to crumble."

David Bange, the Jefferson City engineer said the city hopes the project will improve that corridor overall.

"Folks are going to see what looks to be a new street," Bange said. "Certainly with the curbs, gutters, sidewalks and overlay the street will look new when it's done."

The project is expected to cost $2.4 million. $1.9 million is set to come from the joint Jefferson City Cole County capital improvement sales tax while $500,000 will come from the sewer division.

"This is all within the area where we would expect kids to walk to school, and so providing them with better opportunities and a better walking surface we see it as a very good thing," Bange said.

The first closure will begin on Monday, Feb. 3, at 8 a.m. and is anticipated to reopen in April, weather permitting. That closure is for sewer work on Olive Street and Dawson Street. High Street will be closed from Locust Street to Benton Street.

Due to construction, closures along East High Street, between Locust Street and East McCarty Street, will occur through the end of the year. Road closed and detour signs will be posted and moved with the active work zones.

For additional information, contact the Department of Public Works at (573) 634-6410.