Kimmswick’s shopping district will undergo major improvements beginning in November, including spacious sidewalks, lighting and parking lots.
The County Council on June 22 unanimously approved a contract with Gershenson Co. Inc. in Eureka to carry out a joint street improvement project between Jefferson County and Kimmswick.
Gershenson will be paid $2,877,671.30 to reconstruct Market Street from Windsor Harbor Road to Fourth Street, and install sidewalks, lighting, signage and additional area parking.
Market Street is home to numerous shops and restaurants, including Dough Depot, The Spicery and Mississippi Mud Gallery & Gifts, and is one of the main walking and driving thoroughfares in Kimmswick for shoppers.
The contractor will also add sidewalks and an asphalt overlay to ancillary streets: Front, Fourth, Fifth and Beckett.
Two federal grants – the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) and the Surface Transportation Program (STP) – facilitated by the East-West Gateway Council of Governments will cover 70 percent, or $2,014,369.91, of the construction costs.
The county and Kimmswick will pay the remaining 30 percent, or $863,301.39.
Public Works Director Jason Jonas said, as part of the agreement, the county capped the total it would pay for the project, including design and construction costs, at $1.5 million.
The county will pay for the work with its share of a countywide 1/2-cent sales tax for road and bridge improvements.
Under the agreement, the most Kimmswick would pay for the improvements is about $300,000.
Gershenson was the second lowest of three bidders for the project. Jonas said the lowest bidder was not the most responsive to the county’s requests, raising concerns that the full scope of the project wouldn’t be completed if the county selected it.
“(The improvements) are going to be very decorative,” Jonas said. “The sidewalks will be decorative, exposed aggregate concrete. The gutter system will be brick, kind of an old-timey looking system. The parking will be a paver system, so it’ll look like cobblestone. The whole project is designed to give the city the old-time feel it deserves.
“We have some high-end infrastructure that we’re trying to build with these exposed aggregate concrete and paver parking systems, and (the lowest bidder) is not certified to install those, so that was a concern to us, that they were not qualified to do that work.”
The biggest change for motorists following the completion of the street improvement project will be on Market Street. The street will be limited to one-way, eastbound traffic, providing more space for street parking and sidewalks.
To travel westbound, Jonas said motorists will use nearby streets, such as Second or Third streets, to loop back to Beckett Street and then Hwy. K, which is the main entrance and exit to the city.
The primary goal of limiting Market Street to one-way traffic is to provide a more harmonious street for pedestrians and motorists alike. As it stands, shoppers and diners share the road with vehicles, Jonas said.
There are small gravel lots in front of and on the sides of certain businesses for parking, but the design is disjointed and uneven, Jonas said.
“Going westbound (on Market Street) is tricky,” he said. “I mean, everyone comes into Market eastbound, but then when you try to go westbound, you’re jockeying people who already are driving down the middle, or people who are walking down the middle (of the street). We’ll be able to get parking on both sides, and we’ll have more parking than there is now, because it’ll be organized.”
There will be an 8-foot-wide sidewalk on both sides of Market, all the way to Front Street.
A 6-foot-wide sidewalk will be installed along Front Street, connecting to the pedestrian bridge at the intersection of Windsor Harbor Road and Mississippi Street.
Just beyond the bridge is one of the county’s newest parks, called Kimmswick Park, which has a playground, pavilion, picnic tables and restrooms.
“Right now, one property will have an old sidewalk, and then most properties don’t have anything, just gravel or grass. It’s a conglomerate of different things,” Jonas said. “This will provide for a complete sidewalk.”
Construction crews also will install a sidewalk starting at Windsor Elementary School along Fifth Street.
The school is often used for parking during larger Kimmswick events. That sidewalk will allow pedestrians to walk south from Fifth Street to Beckett Street to Fourth Street, and then onto Market Street, without having to share the road with vehicles.
Jonas said he expects construction to begin by Nov. 1. Per the contract, Gershenson should complete the project by Oct. 1, 2027.
Jonas stressed that Kimmswick businesses will remain open during the construction.
“The city is going to be accessible, your favorite shops and cafes are going to be open,” he said. “We’re not trying to discourage (business), we’re trying to make it better.”