Decatur Set to Apply for Grant Money for “C Streets” If TIA Funding Fails
Decatur Metro | September 19, 2011At tonight’s commission meeting, Deputy City Manager Hugh Saxon will ask the Decatur City Commission to approve a $1.9 million grant application to the Atlanta Regional Commission’s Livable Center Initiative to fund improvements to “Clairemont-Commerce-Church Pedestrian Safety and Bicycle Trial Improvements.”
As Mr. Saxon lays out in his letter to the City Manager (page 14 of the meeting materials) the projected total cost of the project is $3.5 mil, of which $1.125 mil is covered by a Federal Transportation Enhancement Grant (which I don’t recall hearing about previously).
That leaves a cool $2.375 mil left to be paid for. Currently, Decatur still has $5 million tagged in Atlanta’s transportation sales tax project list for funding this project, but if that falls through, this LCI grant is the backup plan. Decatur would need to put up a 20% match ($475,000) to get the grant, which Mr. Saxon says will be available in the capital improvement fund balance in two years, when this project can be expected to begin.
This “ask” (as the cool kids say) comes just days before a public meeting regarding these ped/bike improvements at City Hall next Monday.
The city’s influential Transportation Plan calls for wider sidewalks and crosswalks, countdown signals for pedestrians, changes to the signal timing and traffic lanes at these intersections (Commerce @ Clairemont can be seen above). The plan recommends the Church Street/Commece intersection be narrowed from 60 to 45 feet. Lots more in this PDF.