DECATUR -- Take a drive down Stadium Avenue in Decatur and you can see the dangers that pedestrians -- particularly school kids and motorists -- face as they travel along the two-lane paved road. The Decatur City Council took steps during its May 9 meeting to eliminate these hidden dangers.
As motorists turn onto Stadium Ave from Ninth Street, they face a series of three rolling hills just before coming to Decatur High School's Peterson Gym turnoff. The tops of these hills lead into deep depressions that sometimes can hide pedestrians walking to and from the schools and apartment complexes. A motorist climbing to the top of the first hill may not see a group of students at the bottom of the third hill until on top of them. No one has been injured in this area -- yet.
For the last two years, the city council has tried to find ways to fund a much-needed sidewalk along Stadium Ave. Now the city is one step closer to making this new sidewalk a reality. But there is still a lot of work to be done before the actual concrete can be poured.
The sidewalk project will start at Rooster Street and Arkansas Highway 102 and run to Stadium Avenue where it turns west to Ninth Street. From Ninth Street, the sidewalk will run to Hill Avenue and link up to an existing sidewalk.
The council passed a resolution that allows the city of Decatur to apply for a State of Arkansas Transportation Alternatives Program or TAP grant to fund this project. A TAP grant is an 80/20 reimbursement program that will fund up to 80 percent of a project while the applicant pays 20 percent of the cost of the project.
The city applied for this type of grant before when it completed the sidewalk project for Bredehoeft Road to Veterans Park.
If the grant is approved, the half-mile-long sidewalk can begin construction as soon as early 2023.