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STARKVILLE — Main Street is still in for a pedestrian-friendly redesign, and citizens should begin to see construction rolling out on the project by early next year.
“I think it will long-term be incredibly positive for all the merchants and folks who are in downtown, and I think it will bring people to downtown in a way that will mesh with what the university does and is planning on doing,” Mayor Lynn Spruill told The Dispatch Friday. “It’s one of those things I think is worth the wait and worth the funding and worth the disruption.”
The Main Street Master Plan – approved by the city’s board of aldermen in 2022 – includes expanding sidewalks in front of Main Street businesses, eliminating the right turn lane on Montgomery Street and adding trees to the edge of Main Street and string lights above the road. It also includes reorienting parking spaces, as some of the slanted parking would be changed to parallel parking to allow for the larger sidewalks.
Spruill said the project has been divided into two phases. Phase one will extend from City Hall to Jackson Street, though it will also incorporate the Montgomery Street intersection. Construction on that phase should roll out by January, she said.
Phase two includes the area from Jackson Street to Montgomery Street, though whether or not that phase rolls out is still dependent on financing, Spruill said.
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How is the Main Street redesign being funded?
Ward 2 Alderwoman and budget chair Sandra Sistrunk told The Dispatch Friday the city has about $9.5 million to go toward the project, between cash and committed funds.
This year, she said, the city received two appropriations from the state legislature that totaled $3 million, bringing the amount of state legislative funding received over the past three years to $6.25 million.
The city also has $1 million from the Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant worth $2 million, and $100,000 from the Main Street Association committed to the project. With the interest income on those funds, the city will also pick up a “bit of change,” she said.
Sistrunk said she hopes the funding the city has will cover the first phase of the project. For the second phase, the city is still looking for potential funding sources, she said, including possible future state appropriations, other grants, and potentially, a small bond issue.
“A million here, a million there, and pretty soon the project’s paid for,” Sistrunk said.
Associate City Engineer and Project Manager Chris Williams estimated the first phase of the redesign project will come in at about $8.5 million, though the work has not yet gone out to contractors for bids.
Where is the project now?
Williams told The Dispatch Friday that the city is waiting to finalize an environmental review required by the HUD grant, but drawings for Phase 1 of the project are 90% complete.
The plans will go out to contractors for bids in October, he said, with construction beginning early next year and lasting about a year and a half for the first phase.
Spruill said she is shooting for construction to begin by January, to lower the impact on downtown businesses.
“We’re looking at doing it after the football season and after the Christmas season so the downtown merchants will not be disrupted during their highest time of sales opportunity,” Mayor Spruill said.
While construction work on the redesign has not yet begun, other work to prepare Main Street for the redesign has been completed. Starkville Utilities rolled out a $2.5 million project upgrading water and sewer lines downtown between May and October 2023. The cost was covered by American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Once the water and sewer work was completed, Spruill said, the city repaired the road to make it more drivable. More extensive repaving will wait until the above-ground work is completed, so the city does not have to damage newly-poured asphalt, she said.
What about parking?
When Kimley Horn Landscape Architect Henry Minor presented the proposed redesign to the board in 2021, concerns arose around the number of parking spaces that would be affected by the project.
Williams estimated Friday that only about seven parking spaces would be lost during Phase 1 of the project. He said losses are being minimized as the design rolls out by adding parking on side streets, like on Montgomery and Lampkin streets.
Other parking solutions, like a downtown parking garage, are longer term goals, Spruill said.
“Would I like being able to construct a small parking garage downtown somewhere, yes I would,” Spruill said. “Do we have a location in mind? No. Do we have funding? No.”
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 39 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
