Sidewalk Plans Await MoDot Approval [Audio]

(Hannibal)—Even with brutal winter weather hitting the area recently, Hannibal City Engineer Mark Rees is thinking spring.  Rees says the redesigned sidewalk plans for North Main Street in Hannibal now go to MoDot for approval.  Rees is optimistic the project will be approved well before weather conditions moderate.

I will say that it will be back and approved from MoDOT in plenty of time before Mother Nature let's us get started. So that will be real good news if that happens and I fully expect it to.

Rees hopes to see sidewalk construction complete before a key event takes place, (Tom Sawyer Days) but a lot of things will have to' fall into place' including the weather.

Officially we're predicting before Tom Sawyer Days, but when I look at this realistically  a lot of things have to happen to make sure we meet that. But as I see the effort that Bleigh Construction is willing to put in on this, we have a real good chance of meeting that deadline.

Sidewalk construction was halted last fall and the original sidewalk plans amended after some merchants in the area complained the tiered sidewalk design and railings were not practical and could pose a fall hazard.  The new design eliminates those issues by changing the grade level of North Main to match the sidewalk.

The original plan involving a step down or tier was based on the constructing the sidewalk to match the grade of the street on the west side.