THOMASVILLE — The City of Thomasville recently held a pre-construction meeting and discussed planned street improvements on South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, with construction slated to begin January 7, 2019. Construction for this project is expected to take six months to complete.

“This construction will improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety for the entire neighborhood, by providing a safe sidewalk separated from the roadway that is sufficiently wide to accommodate both pedestrians and bicyclists. Additionally, it will connect pedestrians and cyclists to other areas of the community, including Balfour Park, parts of Thomas University, and commercial areas on W. Jackson Street,” said City Engineer Wayne Newsome.

“These improvements help expand safe school routes, particularly for Harper Elementary and Thomasville High School, as well as Thomas University, while, at the same time improving roadside drainage along the roadway,” Newsome said.  

Resurfacing of the entire roadway from West Jackson Street to South Pinetree Boulevard is another feature of the project. 

“Because of the increased construction traffic on the roadway associated with the sidewalk, curb and gutter, and storm drain construction, we made the decision to include resurfacing of the roadway with new asphalt paving as part of the overall project, even though the project’s primary goal was to provide safe facilities for pedestrians and cyclists,” Newsome said.

The scope of work is for the project encompasses the following elements:

• Installation of new storm drain and inlets replacing ditches on west side of S. MLK Jr. Drive.

• Constructing 18-inch curb and gutter on both sides of the roadway

• Constructing an 8-foot wide multi-use sidewalk on the west side of South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive between West Jackson Street and Varnedoe Street 

• Constructing an 8-foot wide multi-use trail/sidewalk on Varnedoe Street between South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and Balfour Park

• Constructing 5-foot sidewalk on South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive between Varnedoe Street and South Pinetree Boulevard

• Leveling, resurfacing, and restriping South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive from West Jackson Street to South Pinetree Boulevard

• Realigning the intersection at South Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and West Jackson Street

Funding for this project comes from the State Road and Tollway Authority as well as 2012 SPLOST Funds. For additional information regarding this important street improvement project, please call the City of Thomasville’s Engineering Department at 227-7009.