Work on downtown streetscape expected to begin in early 2016

The long awaited downtown Cairo streetscape project may finally be going out to bid this fall, according to Cairo City Manager Chris Addleton.
The city manager briefed the mayor and council on the project Monday night.
Addleton reports that construction and bid documents have been delivered to the Georgia Department of Transportation officials for their review and approval.
“Hopefully, DOT will approve them and we can go out to bid this fall and award a bid in December,” Addleton said.
The first phase of the streetscape project will be funded in large part by a $700,000 federal grant that was awarded to the city back in May 2011.
The project includes a reduction in lanes on South Broad Street to two plus a turning lane, landscaping, benches and new lighting and traffic signals.
City officials had said previously that it will take four to six months to complete phase one.
Addleton and Main Street Director Celeste Tyler had told the council last September that the project could begin in the spring, but that did not happen.
Mrs. Tyler told the council last September, “This has been an extremely long process, but it has been very educational as well.”
Phase one of the streetscape will encompass South Broad Street from the railroad to the intersection of Second Avenue S.E. and M.L. King Jr. Avenue S.W. Phase two, which has already been designed, as has phase three, would run from the railroad to Roddenbery Memorial Library. The phase three of the streetscape would connect Broad Street to Davis Park on the east and to the Grady Cultural Center on the west.