City Pulling Plug on Angle Parking on Jefferson at Courthouse Museum; Resealing Work, Drainage Work Going Well, Though

The City of Effingham has been promoting angle parking along the south side of the Courthouse Museum downtown to gain a few more spaces in a busy part of town.

Finally, though, the cost of the work has been judged not worth the number of spaces gained, especially with concerns by some parties involved about the impact of the angled spaces.

The chief concern remained how close the angled spaces would be to the Veterans Memorial on the Courthouse lawn. Director of Public Works Jeremy Heuerman said the concerns of the various constituencies involved couldn't be resolved. Heuerman added, though, that the $100,000 added cost to the Jefferson Avenue reconstruction project to gain three or four spaces couldn't be justified. 

With the progress on the Jefferson Avenue project continuing to move east toward the Courthouse Museum, Heuerman said it was time to "pull the plug" on the angled parking idea.

On another front, Heuerman reported that resurfacing work underway throughout the city is progressing well. Although he joked that "it looks like we have the whole town torn up", the resurfacing has been very successful, including the "resealing" efforts in some parts of town on roadways that have been built or resurfaced in the past decade. 

Heuerman said a key will be to watch how the resealing work holds up this winter but said, if it responds well, the City could look at a greater use of the resealing in future construction seasons.

On another front, Heuerman said that storm sewer work on Santa Fe Avenue went well, coming in at half the estimated cost. That is allowing the City to proceed with engineering on the next targeted area, the east end of Jefferson Avenue in the area of Oakridge Cemetery. Heuerman said the belief is that underground springs lead to the roadway being wet much of the time. He hopes sewers can be installed to direct the water away from the street and into storm drains. Funding for actual construction work could then be included in next fiscal year's budget.