The Avenue of the Columns project in Columbia will begin its third phase on Monday Dec. 7 at 7 a.m. This phase of the project will include work on Eighth St. between Cherry St. and Walnut St. and is expected to finish until the summer of 2016.
Aplex Inc. of Linn, Mo. will be reconstructing sidewalks, crosswalks, Americans with Disabilities Act ramps and handrails along Eighth St. according to the standards set by the Avenue of the Columns committee’s recommendations from 2005.
Throughout the course of this phase, various parking spots and stretches of sidewalk may be closed. The city urges residents to use caution in and around the work zone.
“We encourage both motorists and non-motorized transportation users, so pedestrians, to try to find alternate routes, if they can, while the construction is going on,” Sapp Said.
The project was developed in 2005 in a “downtown master plan,” which aimed to link the columns of the Boone County Courthouse Square to the columns on Francis Quadrangle at the University of Missouri.
“The project encompasses Eighth St. from Walnut to the North, where the historic court house columns are at, South to Elm St. at the entrance to the University of Missouri Francis Quadrangle, where the old Academic Hall columns are located,” said Columbia Public Communications Specialist Steven Sapp.
Since its creation in 2005, the project has progressed in phases.
“We’ve always know that this would be a long term process that would happen in bits and pieces, as development took place, or as buildings were bought or sold, or sidewalks had to be ripped up,” said Avenue of the Columns Committee Chair Mary Wilkerson.
This phase of the project was approved in December of 2014, and will cost $1.27 million. Funding comes from the voter approved 2005 Capital Improvement Sales Tax.
“We’ve been able to have the funding for this section of the project become available at this point and we’re ready to move forward,” Sapp said.
Columbia owns a great deal of the land along Eighth St. from the courthouse to Cherry St. Wilkerson said the city set aside funding to work on the parts of the street along its properties.
“The city is really taking on a bulk of the responsibility to make that happen, so I’m quite excited about that,” Wilkerson said.
Moving forward, Wilkerson said it’s going to have to be a cooperative effort between property owners on the south end of the project for the avenue to be completed.