$1 million grant ensures access to HMC in flooding
</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[With the specter of the Feb. 29 tornado looming high in the minds of everyone at Harrisburg Medical Center Friday, officials announced funding for a $1 million road improvement project related to flooding.
Plans for raising Missouri Street about 4 feet to get it over the 100-year flood plain have been in the works since the historic flooding in spring of 2011 when the street was water covered and blocked that route to Harrisburg Medical Center. In the flood of 2008 the other direct path to the hospital on Sloan Street was blocked. The $1 million has been approved with $350,000 from a U.S. Department of Transportation grant and the remainder from an Illinois Department of Transportation grant.
IDOT District 5 Engineer Omer Osman said work should begin this summer.
"Hopefully we'll be ready by June 15 for the letting and if there is a successful bidder it will be a month and a half for the contractor to come out here," Osman said.
Osman has been in town representing Illinois Department of Transportation in the tornado clean up effort. The tornado was a reminder of the importance of access to the hospital in times of disaster.
"I was here last week. I drove down from Champaign that Wednesday morning and it was a beautiful day until I hit town. The destruction I saw, I've never seen anything like that before, but I also saw a community helping everybody," Osman said.
HMC CEO Vince Ashley told the crowd of hospital staff and supporters he was preaching to the choir in talking about the importance of insuring access to the hospital.
"I don't have to explain to this group here the importance that road is because we travel it every day," Ashley said.
In Ashley's four years as CEO that staff has endured three disasters involving two floods and a tornado.
"We demonstrated again last week Missouri Street is our life line," Ashley said.
John Gardner, trustee of the Elks Lodge, said as the Elks are pursuing a family-oriented resort on Missouri Street the fraternal organization is glad to be considered in the planning for the street raising.
Mayor Eric Gregg said he and Senator Gary Forby have discussed the project for some time and the disaster last week illustrated access to the hospital is vital.
"It was important last week, but we all know how important this week to get this road built up and to have a direct, straight-line access to our hospital," Gregg said.
Gregg said the morning of the tornado he made it a priority to drive up Missouri Street to make sure it was passable and there was a clear path to the hospital.
Gregg also praised the HMC staff for their work treating the injured.
"I talked to Stacy Cottom. I talked to some of the people who were victims that were here and they sing your praises," Gregg said.
State Rep. Brandon Phelps -- acting as master of ceremonies for the event -- gave credit to State Senator Gary Forby for securing the funding.
"Most all the credit goes to Senator Gary Forby. You've heard of little dogs that bite ankles. He is a very big dog that bites ankles," Phelps said.
State Senator Gary Forby said he talked to city engineer Jim Brown about infrastructure needs he could bring to Governor Pat Quinn's attention. Brown told him the most serious need was raising Missouri Street. Forby told the governor about the flooding issue in 2011.
"I told him there was no way to get to the hospital unless you were in a high vehicle," Forby said.
"The governor told me, 'Gary, I think that's a pretty good project,'" Forby said.
Engineer Mike Roberts said the construction could begin mid-August with a finish date possibly in the spring of 2013.