The Reporter newspaper, Camdenton Missouri

The Reporter covers Miller, Morgan and Camden County in Central Missouri's Lake of the Ozarks and is published once per week on Wednesdays.

Published November 12, 2014

City looks at grants for sidewalks

By Jeff Thompson
CAMDENTON - Three sidewalk projects stretching from The Square to Walmart - along with appropriate pedestrian crosswalks - will be the focus of grant applications from the city to the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT).

Parks Director Larry Bennett explained the sidewalk proposals to the Board of Aldermen last week.

The grants - worth up to $500,000 each on an 80/20 split through MoDOT’s Transportation Alternative Program (TAP) - would help pay for the following three projects:
1) A sidewalk on the south side of Highway 54 from Laker Pride Street to Cecil Street with three pedestrian crosswalks;
2) A sidewalk on the north side of Highway 54 from The Square to Eagle Stop convenience store; and
3) A sidewalk on Laker Pride Street from the Highway 54 intersection down to the Camdenton R-III athletic fields.

Bennett said the projects were listed in order of importance because the TAP grants can
only accommodate up to three projects every two years.

He added that the city had been in talks with the school district concerning the proposed sidewalk on Laker Pride Street to the athletic fields and that the district itself would pick up the 20-percent split.

“This is two-and-a-half miles of ADA-compliant sidewalks at 20 percent of their cost,” Bennett told the board.

Alderman Sandy Osborn asked about the second sidewalk project, from The Square to Eagle Stop.

“How can pedestrians get over the bridge (Highways 54 & 5 overpass)?” she said.

Bennett explained that MoDOT officials were aware of the problem but suggested stopping at the convenience store and waiting for the next two-year cycle to address the situation.

“Will we get all three (projects at once)? I doubt it,” Bennett said, adding that competition for the TAP funds was high. “(But) I think it’s a great opportunity to put sidewalks throughout the community.”

The board approved the park director’s request to apply for the TAP grants. If approved, construction on the sidewalk projects would start in the spring of 2016, Bennett said.

Bennett also praised the assistance of City Clerk Renee Kingston and Public Works Director Bill Jeffries in preparing the applications for MoDOT’s TAP program.

According to City Administrator Jeff Hancock, the three Camdenton TAP requests were also presented to the Lake of the Ozarks Council of Local Governments TAC Board earlier that afternoon.