Jonesboro, AR – Jonesboro Right Now – A portion of Main Street in downtown Jonesboro is set to close to vehicular traffic for a building’s structural assessment.
Jonesboro Fire Department crews were on the scene of 219A S. Main St., where around 1:30 p.m. a front column portion of the building separated and fell into the sidewalk. No injuries were reported.
Structural engineers are assessing the building, and it has been evacuated as a precaution, a city press release said. The release added that stabilization efforts “should remedy the issue.” No timeline has been presented on repairs yet.
| ADD US ON GOOGLE NEWS: Click here to see more local news from Jonesboro Right Now
Main Street from Huntington to Cate avenues will be closed to vehicular traffic for safety, although pedestrian traffic in the area outside of a safety-taped area will be permitted.
In an update posted to the City of Jonesboro’s social media on Saturday, city officials said while the amount of fallen debris is small, an independent structural engineer identified it as being part of a larger stability issue “in urgent need of addressing.”
“The recommended safety collapse zone for a masonry building is 1.5x the height to account for heavy bricks or debris that could seriously injure (or even worse) a person from second story height,” the update said.
Main Street was closed to traffic in 2024 and 2025 when a structural issue was discovered on the now-demolished former Citizens Bank building. City Chief Administrative Officer Brian Richardson told JRN this situation was “not anticipated to be a Citizens Bank-like issue.”
“One, the size of the building is completely different. Two, this isn’t uncommon in older masonry-type buildings. There’s several on Main Street that have had to have some sort of facial reinforcement on the front of them,” he said. “There are independent engineers that are down there now that are working towards a plan on it, and obviously, we’re going to do everything we can to help push and make sure that’s expedited.”
Restaurants and businesses in the affected area remain open to the public with their regular hours.
“Please go downtown, enjoy a traffic-free block and support local businesses,” the city’s update said.
Update: This article was updated to include additional information about the partial road closure from a city update.
| DAILY BRIEF: Sign up for the Jonesboro Right Now Daily Brief Newsletter
