Grimes Asphalt & Paving Corp. has been awarded a $2.9 million contract to resurface and widen the Neil Smith Trail from the Sycamore access to the entrance of Big Creek State Park. Federal stimulus and highway funds are paying for the project, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said in a news release.

EMC Insurance Cos. plans to turn on the lights on its downtown buildings, and the public is invited to view the show at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. EMC will debut a 7-foot-high, 35-foot-long sign atop its nine-story building at Eighth and Mulberry streets. The sign, featuring the company’s logo and blue “EMC” letters, will be illuminated using light-emitting diode (LED) technology. The two-sided sign will be visible from the north and south. At the same time, the company will unveil new lighting, also featuring LEDs, on the south façade of its 20-story building at 700 Walnut St. The designated viewing area for the grand lighting is the EMC parking lot bordered by Cherry Street and West Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway on the north and south, and Seventh and Eighth streets on the east and west. EMC representatives will be on hand to answer questions.

The U.S. Cellular World Food Festival needs volunteers for the event, Oct. 7 to 11 in the East Village. For more information and to register as a volunteer, go to www.worldfoodfestival.org.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. Chairman Charles Holliday will likely be added to Bank of America Corp.’s board of directors at a meeting today, according to a Reuters report on a story that originally appeared in the Wall Street Journal. The board will also be briefed on options if the bank’s chief executive, Kenneth Lewis, is charged with civil fraud, according to The Wall Street Journal. Last week, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo subpoenaed five current or former Bank of America directors to learn what they knew about Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc.’s problems as the companies prepared to merge. DuPont is the parent of Johnston-based Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc.

Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. said today that it will extend President and CEO Brian Duperreault’s contract an additional three years to Jan. 29, 2014. Duperreault, who has served as president and CEO since Jan. 30, 2008, was set to have his contract expire on Jan. 29, 2011.