COLUMBIA — The orange mesh fencing and equipment blocking the sidewalk at the intersection of Eighth and Elm streets are part of MU’s contribution to the effort to beautify the historic Avenue of the Columns.
The project will cost the university $180,000.
Construction crews are adding a low, curved stone bench and brick paving to the sidewalk, said Phil Shocklee, associate director of MU Campus Facilities. The center of the Eighth Street circle drive will also be improved by the addition of a limestone planter and black granite cobblestones.
“It’s going to be a nice place to sit and eat your lunch,” a construction worker for the project said.
The project has been in the works for three years but had been put off because of construction at the Reynolds Journalism Institute on the Francis Quadrangle. The Eighth Street circle drive has also been cordoned off for landscaping.
Construction on the project will be finished in time for MU students’ return to campus in the fall, Shocklee said.