The contractor who will rebuild part of Westwoods Road in Wright City has agreed to also rebuild a sidewalk on the North Service Road for $66,000.

The sidewalk to be rebuilt is between Westwoods Road and Elm Street, passing in front of United Church of Christ and Liberty Christian Academy. The sidewalk has significant damage and displacement, and is extremely difficult to navigate with a wheelchair, among other complaints.

Sweetens Concrete Services agreed to add the sidewalk to its work after being awarded the bid to rebuild a section of Westwoods Road for about $540,000. The Wright City government asked Sweetens to add the sidewalk after two other companies submitted sidewalk project bids that were far above estimate.

Wright City’s original project estimate for the sidewalk rebuild was about $53,000, City Administrator Jim Schuchmann said in April. When the project was put out for bids, two companies submitted prices of $89,000 and $100,000, which the Wright City Board of Aldermen rejected on April 22.

Despite Sweetens’ price also being higher than the original estimate, Schuchmann said it was still a good price when accounting for industry-wide construction cost increases.

“Prices have gone up. When I talked to the engineer about the price ... and told him $66,000, he didn’t hesitate a second,” commented Schuchmann, snapping his finger for emphasis. “He said take it. That’s a good price in today’s market.”

Part of the reason Sweetens was able to offer a better price for the sidewalk is because the company will already be here to rebuild Westwoods Road. Some of the basic costs for mobilizing equipment and materials can be shared between the two projects, Schuchmann explained.

When the sidewalk is rebuilt, the entire stretch will be wheelchair accessible and meet current ADA standards, Schuchmann said. That will include moving the path of the sidewalk in one spot to decrease the inclination going uphill.

Schuchmann added that the sidewalk concrete at the corner of North Service Road and Elm Street will be reinforced to handle the weight of heavy trucks that frequently hop the curb there.

“They’ve got it designed as 7- or 8-inch thick, high-strength concrete,” Schuchmann said. “The thing I’m encouraged about is that Sweetens does roadways. They know what they have to do to get (pavement) that will hold up to 80,000-pound vehicles.”