2/7/05

$371,200 Awarded to Town for Downtown Sidewalks
Sidewalks to be Complete in 2006, in Time for Library, Cultural Center Opening

Downtown Holly Springs will soon be more pedestrian friendly, thanks to $371,200 in federal clean-air money awarded to the Town by the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization in January. The project is set to be formally approved this June by the NC Department of Transportation, which last year awarded the Town a $200,000 grant for a downtown streetscape project that includes aesthetic improvements and installation of wide, brick sidewalks that will run along both sides of Main Street from Avent Ferry Road/Center Street south to Raleigh Street.

“The main objective is to provide local residents with an alternate mode of travel in downtown Holly Springs, especially since we're getting a library and cultural center,” said Kendra Stephenson, senior project engineer with the Town of Holly Springs Engineering Department. “The project will get people out of their cars and onto the sidewalks so we can also reduce air pollution.”

The money most recently awarded is targeted to fund 80 percent of the cost to construct a sidewalk and other related improvements along downtown Main Street from Cayman Ave. in the Windward Point subdivision south through the Holly Springs Rd. intersection and past Town Hall to Maple St.

In early December, towns in Wake County were notified of the available grant funds. Stephenson worked to assemble a grant application package, along with Stan Fortier, also a project engineer with the Engineering Department, before the late December deadline. Holly Springs is one of two municipalities to receive money.

The estimated cost for the downtown sidewalks and aesthetic improvements, including the most recently funded sidewalk project, is roughly $714,000. Of that amount, $571,200 will come from grant money.

Stephenson said that she anticipates construction on the sidewalk projects to be complete in 2006, to coincide with the opening of the downtown library and cultural center on Ballentine St.

“We look forward to starting the sidewalk project, actually getting it underway, so we can have a sidewalk by the time we have the cultural center and library downtown,” she said.

Town of Holly Springs - PO Box 8 - 128 South Main Street - Holly Springs, NC 27540 - (919) 552-6221 - Holly.Springs@hollyspringsnc.us