Downtown pole damaged in crash, repairs could cost thousands

By Gary Scott on December 15, 2017 at 9:57am

Repairs to a portion of downtown Jacksonville will be needed after a vehicle damaged a pole on the North Central Park Plaza.

According to authorities, Jacksonville Police received a reports on Tuesday of vehicle trailer sideswiping a pole after failing to negotiate a correct turn from the downtown square on to North Main Street.

Terry Chumley with the city’s street department says the accident could have caused closed to $3,000 worth of damage.

“There’s probably between $2,500 and $3,500 worth of damage. We have to replace one of the bollards, which are about $1,600 or $1,700 apiece, then that section of the fence is going to have to be replaced, and the big steel pipe that was there filled with concrete to protect that stuff, it bent it over and broke the concrete all out. I’ve got a local firm that’s going to come and dig all of that out and replace that bollard and the concrete post with all new stuff,” says Chumley.

As for when folks can expect the damaged parts to be repaired, Chumley says it could it could be several months.

“It’ll probably be between two and three months. There’s usually a six to seven week order time on those bollards themselves, all of that stuff is ordered through an electric company in Springfield, and it’s about six to seven weeks from the time that they order to the time the company ships it,” Chumley explains.

Chumley also says that one way of combating these issues is for semi trucks to use alternative routes rather than the downtown square. According to police reports, no one was injured during the course of the incident.