College Street sidewalk project planned
Tammie Stephens
A project has been approved to build a sidewalk along the south side of College Street from Mt. Salus Drive to where the existing sidewalk ends just east of the Mississippi College Arts Complex.
By Randy Bell
The City of Clinton will soon take a big step toward its goal of making it easier and safer for people to walk from Olde Towne to the Boulevard business district. The Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) has agreed to provide $426,000 to build a sidewalk stretching for about 2,200 feet along the south side of College Street from Mt. Salus Drive to where the existing sidewalk ends just east of the Mississippi College Arts Complex. A proposal to approve the project was expected to be on the agenda at the Board of Aldermen meeting on February 18.
In addition to the grant from MDOT’s Transportation Alternatives Program, a local match will be required.
“The City will provide a minimum of $110,000,” says Consulting City Engineer Bill Owen. “I would not expect the improvements to begin until sometime in 2026.”
Ward 1 Alderwoman Karen Godfrey says the sidewalk extension is badly needed.
“The [existing] sidewalk ends, and there’s just a gap right there. The City has made numerous attempts to find the necessary money for the project. We tried it several ways, and we never got enough funding to complete that, so we were excited when this [grant] came up.”
Alderman Chip Wilbanks represents Ward 4 and lives across the street from where the new sidewalk will be built, and he thinks people will use it.
“It’s kind of a connection [between] Olde Towne and the Boulevard District,” Wilbanks says. “It will certainly be an advantage to our Mississippi College students that are living all up through there and walk that direction constantly.”
He’d also like to see some work on the existing sidewalks.
“The part that is there needs repairing,” Wilbanks says.
The project along College Street is part of a long-range plan to extend sidewalks all the way to Lakeview Drive.
Wilbanks says, “I think it’ll help us move forward on down that way.”
