The cities of Andalusia and Opp this week took definitive steps toward making a proposed rails to trails project a reality in South Alabama.
Each city’s council voted this week to fund an environmental study necessary to move the project forward.
Andalusia City Clerk John Thompson said the Alabama Trails Commission and Forever Wild have both signed off to participate in making the project a reality.
“This is a many-years project,” Thompson said.
The project would bring a coalition together to purchase a 43-mile abandoned rail line that stretches from Andalusia to Geneva.
“This would be a perfect recreational trail and bring people to our community,” Thompson said. “Andalusia would be at the trail head, so we would stand to gain more traffic.”
Thompson said stakeholders have been with Brian Rushing of the University of Alabama Economic Development Office, who has provided assistance in putting the project together.
But the project can’t move forward until an environmental study is done. Geneva County, which is a member of the consortium supporting the project, has received a TAP grant to fund most of the environmental study, but it is a reimbursement grant; that is, the county will be reimbursed after the study is done.
With that in mind, the City of Andalusia agreed to pay $50,000 in up-front costs, and the City of Opp will pay $30,000 for the environmental study. Each municipality should receive reimbursement for 80 percent of the costs, Thompson said.
The study will be conducted by CDG Engineers, which submitted the low bid.
We are actually committing $10,000 when it is all said and done,” Thompson said.
Andalusia Mayor Earl Johnson said he has met with the Forever Wild board, which gave a favorable recommendation to the project. That organization, which purchases and preserves lands for public use, would ultimately negotiate a purchase of the land from the railroad, Johnson said.
“There are a number of these trails around the country,” Johnson said. “There are a couple in Alabama that are very successful, and there are several in Mississippi and Texas. This brings a lot of folks to your community.”
The trails are used by people who enjoy biking, walking and hiking, he said.
“This is a marathon, not a dash,” Johnson said. “We’ll be talking about this for year, and possibly those who come after us will, too.”
Council members were supportive.
“This is sort of like Candyland,” Councilman Terry Powell said. “We stepped out and tried that, and look at the success.”
Resurfacing work is slated to begin on the paved portion of Prestwood Bridge Road as early as Tuesday, and a portion of the dirt road will be paved in coming months.
The City of Andalusia plans to resurface the paved portion of the road inside the city limits. The city is taking advantage of its ability to buy materials off the state bid contract the county has. Andalusia is using the contractor already doing resurfacing work for the state in this area.
Mayor Earl Johnson said the city will fund the $225,000 needed to resurface the road with $135,000 it didn’t spend in last year’s budget, and $90,000 in its gasoline tax fund.
“Hopefully, we’ll get this resurfacing done in the next two or three weeks,” he said. “Prestwood Bridge Road is in bad need of that.”
Commission Chairman Greg White said the county plans to resurface the paved portion of Prestwood Bridge Road outside of the city limits, and also will pave a portion of the dirt road. He said he is not sure when the county will do the project, or how much of the dirt road it can pave.
The City of Andalusia’s conservative spending in the fiscal year that just ended put the council in position to pave the heavily-traveled Prestwood Bridge Road.
And the city council voted Tuesday to do just that.
Andalusia Mayor Earl Johnson explained that the city’s public works department had approximately $90,000 left in its 2017 budget, and the city has accumulated approximately $90,000 in its gasoline tax fund. Gasoline tax proceeds can only be spent on roads and bridges. Read More>
Work has begun on the Lindsey Bridge Road sidewalk project,
The City of Andalusia received a Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) grant in 2015 for the project, which was bid this year.
“You’ve got to break some eggs to make a cake,” Mayor Earl Johnson said of the work now being done. “It will be worth it in the long-un.
Alan Kilen of Civil Southeast Engineering told council members when the project was bid that it was designed to also address drainage issues in several locations. The sidewalks still extend to Maple Street off Lindsey Bridge Road, and go to Johnson Park on Stanley Avenue.
“This plan accomplishes a lot more than just sidewalks,” Kilen said. “The large dirt area in front of Gitty-up and Go where trucks park, will be paved.”
In addition, drainage will be improved at the entrance to Johnson Park, and at several points on Lindsey Bridge Road.
Unlike a similar project on Prestwood Bridge Road, Kilen said the sidewalk is not nearly as close to the road because engineers have more right-of-way with which to work.
The Alabama 4-H and the A.P.P.L.E program team up four times a year to give children an opportunity to experience kayaking. The RiverKids 4-H kayaking trip is free to the children who go to A.P.P.L.E, and is offered from fourth to seventh grade. The kayaks belong to the A.P.P.L.E program.
Catherine Rider, the Covington County Extension Agent for 4-H, has been a part of the program from day one.
“We started this program last summer,” Rider said, “It was actually a state initiative, and Covington County was one of the pilot programs.”
RiverKids was started to benefit children by offering them an outside experience they could potentially enjoy, and to educate them about the wildlife and vegetation.
“It’s about getting outside and enjoying the outdoors. Children today don’t usually willingly go outside,” Rider explained.
“The kids genuinely love this program,” Christine Lynn of the A.P.P.L.E. program said.
In preparation for the trip, the children are taught in a still pool how to paddle, and even get on-sight training on what to do if the kayak flips.
“Most children are first timers. Usually about halfway they get the hang of it,” Rider said.
Rider said trip routes are selected based on the ability of the children, their experiences in the past, and how young they are.
“We like to pick places where we know the current is helpful, not too slow or fast,” Rider said.
There are two summer trips, one fall trip, and one offered in spring. So far, the kids of A.P.P.L.E have been to Yellow River, Open Pond, and the Conecuh River out on Gantt. There are great factors that go into selecting a location, for instance, if the water is high and the current is too strong.
“Flooding has been an issue this year,” Rider said, “We’ve had to pick Open Pond for our last couple of trips.”
However, on Monday, the Conecuh’s water was finally low enough for the group of 12 children to safely kayak. The trip was a three-mile trip, and lasted about four hours.
“We hope that next year the weather will cooperate with our plans to include more kids,” Rider said.
She hopes to reach out beyond A.P.P.L.E, and include other children as well.