6 MILES OF SIDEWALKS A project to build nearly six miles of sidewalks along Beckham Avenue, Loop 323, Gentry Parkway, Martin Luther King Boulevard, East Fifth Street and other areas was completed.
A $1.9 million construction project funded by the TxDOT grant (80 percent) and the City funds (20 percent) focused on putting sidewalks along TxDOT-owned roads.
Overall, 5.9 miles of sidewalk were added along City streets.
A second set of City funds - $88,130 completed two stretches of City-owned right of way on the south side of Garden Valley Road in District 3, and on Blanco Drive in District 5.
“The objective is to create accessible routes for the high-use areas in town,” said Project Engineer Kyle Dykes. “The project itself is intended to create better connectivity between parks, schools and hospitals and areas that get a lot of traffic. We can leverage grant dollars and that helps us extend our dollars.” The work was done by a single contractor, but the funds came from two pots of money: a Texas Department of Transportation grant and City funds.
Apart from sidewalks, the City is working on two other mobility projects. Those include the Legacy Trails project, which is the first leg of a regional trail system. That project is funded with the help of a state grant, and includes turning an abandoned railroad corridor into a trail, from Old Jacksonville Highway, near Fresh, to Gresham. The other project is a partnership between the City and The University of Texas at Tyler to study the City’s road infrastructure and look for places to add bike lanes. Both are ongoing.
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INFRASTRUCTURE 14
