The Pine Bluff City Council approved a resolution Monday to appropriate money from the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department to pay for a Dollarway Safe Route to School Project.
The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department is providing $171,000 and the city will provide $50,000 to build sidewalks for children to reach school, Pine Bluff Mayor Debe Hollingsworth said. The money will be used to build sidewalks along L.A. Prexy Davis Drive, King Street and Willow Street around Robert F. Morehead Middle School.
“These are in areas that are deemed to be high-traffic areas,” Hollingsworth said.
Children are currently walking along roads because these roads do not have sidewalks, she said.
A similar project at Townsend Park School in the Dollarway School District was funded and completed about two years ago, Pine Bluff Community and Economic Development Director Larry Matthews has previously said. Those grant funds have also been used for portions of the Saracen Walking Trail, Matthews has said.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Dollarway School District Acting Superintendent Patsy Hughey did not return phone calls Tuesday.
In other news, the Pine Bluff City Council approved a budget adjustment Monday to establish an expense account for a $250,000 grant from the Delta Regional Authority to work on University Park.
“This sets up the account to receive the money from the Delta Regional Authority,” Hollingsworth said. “This money goes toward lights on University Drive.”
Entergy is preparing to bury utility lines and will then install light fixtures, Hollingsworth said. The city is making these improvements to improve the neighborhood around the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, she said.