Engineers are finalizing plans for the Louisville Street widening project and hope to see construction begin by next summer.
The Starkville Board of Aldermen Tuesday gave engineering firm Neel-Schaffer permission to proceed with the final design for the estimated $1.2 million project, which would widen Louisville Street from two lanes to three between Lynn Lane and Yellow Jacket Drive. Aside from the addition of a middle turn lane, bicycle lanes would be painted on the side of northbound and southbound traffic lanes, curbs and gutters would be installed on both sides of the street and a sidewalk would be constructed on the west side of the road. The existing road surface along the 3,200-foot-long stretch also would be improved.
Neel-Schaffer engineer Aaron McNeal said construction could begin by August or September 2011 and last four to eight months.
Eighty percent of the project is being funded through the Mississippi Department of Transportation”s Surface Transportation Program. The city is required to provide a 20 percent match, or $240,000.
After completion, Louisville Street would be three lanes between Highway 12 to Academy Road. The addition of a turn lane would improve traffic flow and cut down on accidents, McNeal said.
The installation of sidewalks also would benefit residents of Louisville Street and nearby Lynn Lane, many of whom walk along the side of the busy roadway daily. Those same pedestrians who have worn cowpaths on the way to Starkville High School and Highway 12 will have a much safer walk in the future, McNeal said.
“It”s much needed from the pedestrian point-of-view,” Ward 2 Alderwoman Sandra Sistrunk said.
In other business Tuesday, aldermen voted to issue up to $2.1 million in Tax Increment Financing, or TIF funds, for the redevelopment and infrastructure improvements around the Middleton Court shopping center on Highway 12.
In 2008, the previous Board of Aldermen approved the Middleton Court redevelopment project for TIF funding. When a redevelopment project is carried out, the surrounding area often sees increased real estate value, which in turn generates increased tax revenues. Tax Increment Financing dedicates those tax revenues from within the defined TIF district to finance debt issued to pay for the project.
Aldermen Tuesday also approved the closure of Main Street, between Jackson Street and Washington Street, from 4-10 p.m. on Oct. 29 for the second annual Downtown Pumpkinpalooza. The event will feature a street fair atmosphere with vendors, a pumpkin painting station, a pumpkin patch, food and inflatable jumpers, among other things.
Festivities will kick off at 6 p.m. with a pep rally featuring Mississippi State University cheerleaders, the pom squad and Bully. Downtown businesses will offer trick-or-treating and participate in a window decorating contest. Restaurants will offer dinner specials to children wearing costumes.
For more information on festivities, contact Jennifer Gregory, Starkville Main Street manager, at 662-323-3322.
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