The City of Waco has submitted an application for a $3.1 million grant through the Texas Department of Transportation for the Transportation Alternative Set-Aside (TASA) Program to help with the cost of the Elm Avenue street improvements.
In May, the TIF board recommended up to $956,200.00 in TIF funds to match the grant for the project.
"90 percent of the sidewalk in the area is in an deteriorated compliance issue," Jim Reed, Capital Projects Manager for the City Public Works Department, said.
The city said it's focusing on revitalizing the area.
"When you think about Arts on the Avenue and you have so many people that congregate in one area that has so many trip hazards and deteriorated sidewalk. There's concerns there, concerns that we definitely need to be looking at as a city," Reed said.
The project plans to remove and replace all of the sidewalks along Elm Avenue, install trees, more lighting and ADA safety ramps and railings.
"This area is a high priority for us because we want to bring back the vibrancy this area used to have," Rachel Klawinksky, Project Manager for the City of Waco Public Works Department, said. "I think a lot of that has been lost because the last several decades there hasn't been a lot of attention put in this area so it's slowly deteriorating. And we as the city would like to bring back that vibrancy and that energy that the area once had back in the day."
The project would affect Elm Avenue from University Parks Dr. to Garrison St.
The city expects to know whether they were awarded the grant by September.
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