Grant will fund greenway project
By Matt Caulder
Published in News on May 3, 2013 1:46 PM
The North Carolina Department of Transportation has offered to move up the time frame on $500,000 of funding awarded for the continuation of the multi-use path near New Hope Road.
The project was slated for the 2015-16 fiscal year but was moved up to 2013-14.
"It's absolutely amazing, the timing couldn't be better," said Scott Barnard, director of Goldsboro Parks and Recreation.
The project is funded as part of the strategic prioritization process that evaluates projects based on a number of factors including existing features such as the portion of the path completed along New Hope Road, said Randy Guthrie, development services director with the Goldsboro Planning Department.
The plan for the project was submitted to NCDOT two to three years ago, Guthrie said.
The project received high priority, and the funding came through this year.
The path will continue along New Hope Road from where it currently stops at Hare Road by the Goldsboro Worship Center, turning south just before Cassadale Drive and continuing behind Wayne Community College and Wayne Memorial Hospital.
Goldsboro City Council voted to accept the proposal to move up the project's timetable at its April 15 meeting and voted to allow the planning department to put out a request for someone to design the path and bridge needed to complete the project.
A bridge will have to be designed to cross Reedy Branch, a feeder stream of Stoney Creek that runs parallel to Wayne Memorial Drive.
The city is responsible for the design of the project and securing the rights of way for the multi-use path, but the NCDOT funding will cover the construction costs.
NCDOT has verbally committed another $100,000 to the project if it is needed to complete the project, Barnard said.
He said he believes the public interest in greenways is what drove the timetable forward for this project, as well as other greenway projects around Goldsboro.