By By ANNA M. LEE Managing Editor
At its meeting Tuesday, April 13, the Brewton City Council awarded a contract to Beasley and Company to build new sidewalks in the downtown area.
As part of the project, a new sidewalk will be built beginning at the foot of Murder Creek bridge and joining the existing sidewalk on Ann Avenue, said City of Brewton community development supervisor Pete Diurno.
Another sidewalk will be built parallel to Persimmon Street, but specific plans on that part of the project are delayed right now, Diurno said.
The reason for the delay is the State of Alabama's intention to widen Persimmon.
Once the City of Brewton recieves the state's plans for three-laning Persimmon Street, work on the sidewalk can begin. Though Persimmon Street is a city street, the state takes responsibility for modifying it because traffic flows from a state highway.
As another part of this same project, the city will build a park in the lot in front of the new mural, Diurno said. The park will include parking, some benches and eventually a fountain. The fountain would be paid for through other funds.
Funding for these improvements comes for a grant program intended for the beautification of areas surrounding federal highways.
Work is expected to be underway on all of these projects in the next three to five weeks.