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ALTON - The wall near Riverview Park continues to give the City of Alton issues. Sunday evening, a part of the wall collapsed, Alton Mayor Brant Walker said, but city personnel quickly responded to the scene to start the stabilization process.
Walker said thankfully no one was injured in the wall collapse and Abbott Machine Co. did not suffer any damage. City of Alton Public Works staff worked diligently Monday and were back Tuesday morning with Sheppard, Morgan and Schwaab Engineering to stabilize the area.
“We have been hoping for help from FEMA on this project, but we are going to take things into our own hands and stabilize it,” Alton Mayor Walker said. “We have had issues because of the torrential rains and Mother Nature is doing what it does on the bluffs. We have started the process and we are going to take care of it.”
Mike St. Peters, president of Abbott Machine Co., praised the mayor, Alton Public Works Director Bob Barnhart and Sheppard, Morgan and Schwaab Engineering for their quick work on the wall situation.
“We didn’t have any real damage,” St. Peters said of the recent wall collapse. “Mayor Walker, Bob Barnhart and Justin of Sheppard, Morgan & Schwaab have been great to work with. Barnhart and the mayor were also great to work with during the flood. Sunday night, no one was working and there was little damage, just some cosmetics, not structural.”
Walker continued: “Riverview Park is one of the jewels of the city and we have to protect our citizens who live near there. 2010 was one of the wettest years in Illinois history and the last four or five years there has been a lot of erosion because of the rainfall. The river sand deposited for a long time has starting to give away.”
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