A significant five-phase, $660,000 infrastructure investment could add increased access points to Starkville Parks and Recreation facilities along Lynn Lane and help solve traffic and mass transit issues along the highly used thoroughfare.
Aldermen stopped short of taking action on the project Tuesday, but discussions are expected to continue in the future.
A group of delegates from the city and Mississippi State University developed the plan after SPR officials complained that buses from the joint Starkville-university mass transit system caused significant pot holes and other infrastructure issues while picking up riders at the Lynn Lane-based Starkville Sportsplex.
To solve those issues, the group, comprised of City Engineer Edward Kemp, Assistant City Engineer Cody Burnett, SPR Director Herman Peters, MSU Parking Services Director Jeremiah Dumas and Ward 4 Alderman Jason Walker, propose removing the Sportsplex’s Starkville-MSU Area Rapid Transit Route’s drop-off location from park property and replacing it with a shelter across the street on Logan Drive; turning the Logan Drive-Sportsplex entranceway into a new intersection complete with pedestrian pathways and a stoplight; and widening Lynn Lane’s connection to the two roads by installing left-only turning lanes in both directions.
The first three phases, estimated to cost about $100,000, $55,000 and $160,000, would then be followed with a $217,800 project to create new points of ingress and egress by extending the Sportsplex’s main entrance to Spruill Industrial Park Road and a $125,730 investment creating a new entrance to McKee Park.
Aldermen did not approve any specific phase of the proposals, nor set a timetable for their completion Tuesday. Funding for the potential investments would come out of the city’s coffers as most of the SMART Route is funded through a rural transportation grant through the Mississippi Department of Transportation.
The city’s contribution to the transit system is measured through in-kind services, including bus shelter construction and infrastructure improvements.
Tuesday’s presenters touted the plan as the best way to not only solve infrastructure issues at the park, but also greatly improve growing access and traffic problems in the entire neighborhood.
While Starkville Parks Commission leaders have experienced budgetary problems in the last two years, they’ve continued to lean upon the Sportsplex’s increasing usage figures as a need for more funding.
The SMART Route’s Sportsplex hub is a key connector in the system’s city-circular route and is one of the few city-owned destinations that provide true on-site public parking. It also serves as a multi-route drop-off location, meaning riders of the city-circular route can transition to others that take them to MSU’s campus, thereby connecting them to numerous other routes throughout the university’s property.
“Every option possible, we explored. We think these are the best options for SMART and Parks,” Kemp said.
Lynn Lane apartments continue to feed the route with riders, Dumas said, and simply removing an access point would be a disservice to those who live in the area. Just as many people are walking from their homes in the area to the Sportsplex, he said, as those who park their cars in the site’s public lots.
“These alternatives can solve immediate and long-term issues with the changing context of Lynn Lane,” Walker added at the table.
The Sportsplex’s connection is also vital to MSU’s grant as grant rules require SMART to connect Starkville’s population to government owned facilities and health care options. Requirements also force SMART to provide access to other state-related services, including stops near the Oktibbeha County Courthouse for voter identification enrollment.
Since Jan. 2, the system has transported 485,824 riders. Those figures include the Greek, Central and South loops, which are campus-specific routes that have moved almost half of the total amount of riders.
Sportsplex-specific routes — the Sportsplex Express and Boardtown Loop — have transported a combined 54,054 riders, making them the fourth and fifth routes of seven in terms of ridership. The Sportsplex Express route transports riders from three Lynn Lane locations, including the Sportsplex, to MSU’s Montgomery Hall, while the Boardtown Loop — the city-circular route — makes stops at the same three Lynn Lane locations, Starkville Crossing, OCH Regional Medical Center, Peoples Street, Reed Road, Stark Road, Miss. Highway 12 (two locations) and Main Street (two locations).
The SMART Route provides transportation to all, not just MSU students. The group’s report estimates 2.6 percent of Starkville’s working-age population does not have access to personal transportation.
Due to increased ridership, Dumas said SMART’s Boardtown Loop will be split into northern and southern routes in the future, which will allow MSU to add additional stops to each path.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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