E.T. Simonds sidewalk team finishing work, will pull out of city next week

For nine months the E.T. Simonds sidewalk construction team has been Du Quoin's extended family.

As close to card-carrying Du Quoin residents as it gets, who since September 9, 2013 have demolished and constructed nearly a mile of new sidewalk in our downtown.

They have names:

David Homoya from Carterville.

Jack Ehlers from Elkville.

John Schwartzkopf from Marissa.

Bob Ruzich (Ruzichj Engineering) from Ozark.

Robert Bundy from West Frankfort.

Joseph Williams from Jonesboro.

Robert Baseden from Vergennes.

Bill Gamber (E.T. Simonds Construction Co. foreman) from Anna.

"This has been a good project for us," said Gamber. "The city has been great to work for. The merchants have been very cooperative. The city's employees have helped us," he said. "It's been good."

At every turn, the E.T. Simonds staff has worked as one. They are resourceful. Their timing is impeccable. They respect each other and demonstrate the very best of the American worker.

They have tried to work around the merchants' selling seasons, were considerate of the church services at Sacred Heart and weekend and holiday dining at Alongi's restaurant.

They loved our ice cream at Ye Olde Country Store.

They bought gas at our gas stations, then headed home only to come back and do it all over again the next day. They put in long, hard full days in some of the best weather and some of the worst weather that Southern Illinois can serve up.

They made perfect cut-outs for the new downtown trees. The steel grates around the trees fit like a glove.

The cutouts include new ground effects lighting that was fully planned out. Historic street lighting came out and went back in perfectly.

They have picked up on--and know to ignore--the questions about whether the track hoes, Bobcat skid-steer loaders, dump trucks and jack hammers have shaken the very walls of our town. They know better.

It's not true.

Every section of sidewalk began with saw cuts a foot away from the building foundations.

The team was considerate of Du Quoin's love of its old buildings and were as careful as they could be at every turn. Age, freezing and thawing and lack of upkeep have damaged the buildings, not the construction work.

In the final days of construction they are re-setting the Red Star Mill marker near the Canadian National Railroad tracks, reinstalling planters and waste paper receptacles. They have gone almost door-to-door asking merchants and office staff members, "Is there anything else we need to do."

They have poured sections of concrete they didn't have to pour. They have run new sidewalks alongside Doc Z's fitness center to the St. Nicholas Hotel building where a new micro-brewery and restaurant are being built,

This week they finished corners in front of the Du Quoin Post Office and Marks Bakery.

The work was so fluid and largely so flawless that last week this reporter asked to schedule a family "portrait" for lack of a better word of these men whose work says "Made in America."

Replacing every inch of Main Street sidewalk hasn't been done since the mid-1980s under the late Mayor Bob Armstrong,

The engineering has changed. The Americans With Disabilities Act design rules have all changed. Construction materials like the rubberized tread mats at every intersection have improved. So has lighting.

In the coming weeks the work will begin to repave Main Street in downtown Du Quoin which will complement the new sidewalks perfectly.

But, the idea of "we need to get this right" is something inside these men.

They GET IT!