Sidewalk project will start at SW corner of Main & Hickory Sept. 9

A Thursday morning meeting between Du Quoin city administrator Brad Myers and engineers will give downtown Du Quoin storefront owners some idea as to where the downtown sidewalk replacement program will start and how it will progress.

Myers met with Joseph Lenzini and Steve Restoff, engineers for E.T. Simonds Construction Co. and with Bob Ruzich, an independent engineer who is being retained by the city to oversee the work.

The project is made possible through an $800,000 Illinois Department of Transportation downtown beautification grant.

The work will begin on Monday, Sept. 9, a week later than first planned.

Sidewalk demolition will begin at the southwest corner of West Main and South Hickory Streets in front of the Odds & Ends Shop. Construction will move eastward in sections of about 70 feet at a time. As workers tear out sections of walk, others will follow behind to form, pour and finish the new sections of sidewalk so that no one in inconvenienced for very long.

Myers said Simonds believes it will take through the middle of November to complete work on the south side. The company will take a break so that Main Street will not be torn up during the Christmas holidays.

After Christmas or New Years the same crews will start on the northwest corner at Banterra Bank and move eastward through the downtown area on that side of the street, probably finishing sometime in March.

At some point that will be followed by the complete repaving of East and West Main Streets in downtown Du Quoin in late spring or early summer of 2014.

Downtown sidewalks were last replaced in the mid-1980s under the Robert Armstrong administration.