DUBLIN, Ga. — The city of Dublin is fueling street improvement projects with a chunk of cash from Congress.
They recently received $1.5 million in a grant from the US Department of Transportation under the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity program.
They said they plan to spend it on Dublin's Scottsville, Southside and Stubbs neighborhoods.
"They're very old, historic neighborhoods but they haven't had infrastructure investment in a long time," Dublin Mayor Joshua Kight said.
He said these neighborhoods have some of the oldest streets in Dublin, and they're not easy to get around in.
"Over time the Scottsville neighborhood got separated from the rest of town by a widening of US-441 and a widening of US-80," Kight said.
That's why they're putting the grant funds toward a project called 'Connect Dublin.'
They said the plan is to connect old neighborhoods together with new pathways, and connect them to important parts of town for easier accessibility.
"There's no easy way to get to our public spaces, our courthouse, our library. There's no way to get to our retail centers, there's no way to get to our core downtown areas," Kight said.
Gwen Mack lives in Scottsville, and is president of the Scottsville Neighborhood Civic Association.
"We have a lot of seniors in the area. Even though transportation is poor, we still walk," Mack said.
She said since there's no sidewalks in her neighborhood, people are constantly walking on the road, or biking on the road. Safety is another thing the grant will focus on, and sidewalks will be a focus on streets where there aren't any.
"This is a historical district, so over the years, because of aging citizens, it's deteriorated," Mack said.
Kight said the grant will fund the planning phase, which includes a feasibility study, a bicycle-pedestrian study, data collection, environmental screening, community outreach, conceptual design and economic analysis.
He said that'll take about eighteen months, but it'll be worth the wait.
"This is not something that's going to happen overnight. The problems didn't happen overnight, so the solution is gonna take a long time too, but it's great to be able to announce that the beginning is here," Kight said.
After the eighteen months of planning, Kight said they plan to apply for more grants to fund the construction as soon as possible.