Russellville looks to improve roads, sidewalks

The intersection of Jefferson Street and Marion Street is shown in Russellville. The Cole County Commission recently awarded Russellville $220,000 for reconstruction of Marion Street, including sidewalk work, including restoration/addition of curb and gutter and detention mechanisms to accommodate and direct stormwater and snowmelt in low-lying areas.
The intersection of Jefferson Street and Marion Street is shown in Russellville. The Cole County Commission recently awarded Russellville $220,000 for reconstruction of Marion Street, including sidewalk work, including restoration/addition of curb and gutter and detention mechanisms to accommodate and direct stormwater and snowmelt in low-lying areas.

Now that Russellville has secured cooperative funding from Cole County for a street and sidewalk project, city officials hope they can secure even more funding.

City Clerk Jan Wyatt said Russellville plans to leverage the new county funds to get additional funding from the Missouri Community Development Block Grant Program.

"We just started working on our application, so we don't know how much we will be applying for," she said. "We didn't know about the block grant at time of the county cooperative program."

In January, the Cole County Commission announced cooperative project funding guidelines for small communities within the county to receive part of $800,000 in the county's half-cent capital improvement sales tax to be used for "substantial improvements." There will be $400,000 available this year and $400,000 next year.

Cole County Road and Bridge Advisory Committee members ranked the projects, and the commission awarded funds based on those rankings.

Last week, the commission awarded Russellville $220,000 for reconstruction of Marion Street, including sidewalk work.

According to documents filed with the county, reconstruction of Marion Street would include restoration/addition of curb and gutter and detention mechanisms to accommodate and direct stormwater and snowmelt in low-lying areas. City officials said water is pooling under the street surface and onto private property due to lack of infrastructure.

Wyatt said it's too early to say which other potential projects could be accomplished with the additional grant money.

"If we're not successful with the Community Development Block Grant, then we will proceed with the original Marion Street project," she said.

Wyatt said the block grant applications are due Oct. 1, and city officials don't know when they will be informed of whether the application was successful. The timeline for the project will depend on whether Russellville receives the Community Development Block Grant.

Under the agreement to be signed with Cole County, Russellville would have two years to get the project bid. The current total estimate cost is $258,040.

"We still have to do engineering work on the original project and would probably have to supplement with our own funds to pay the entire cost for that project," Wyatt said.