SCOTT, La. (KLFY) – Some major improvements are planned for St. Mary Street in Scott. The city is getting ready for a $4.9 million sidewalk project.
New sidewalks will be installed from Lions Club Road to the railroad tracks.
“It’s very important to the downtown area,” said Scott Mayor Purvis Morrison. “This is where our parades happen. This is where we have a lot of our history and we continue to invest in our history here.”
St. Mary Street is a high traffic area. City leaders say many older people live here, but don’t like walking because of a lack of sidewalks. New sidewalks should make the area safer.
“The citizens have been asking for this. This is something that’s been on the minds of especially our older community that’s been here for many, many, many years and used to walk these streets,” said Morrison.
There are currently a few sections of sidewalk along St. Mary Street but they’re very old. Some are narrow and filled with cracks. The city will tear up the old sidewalks and replace them with brand new sidewalks on both sides of St. Mary Street.
The project area is about a mile long.
Scott Planning Manager Pat Logan said the plan calls for much more than just sidewalks.
“Some major drainage improvements have to be done to close the ditches, replace pipes that are inadequate, so you’ll have some drainage improvements,” Logan said.
He said St. Mary Street is prone to flooding. This project should alleviate that.
“The driveway culverts, a lot of those are at the wrong grade, the wrong size, a lot of the areas that are totally subsurface are undersized. There’s some areas that are open ditch,” said Logan.
The City of Scott will pay about $900,000 for the project. The rest of the money will come from the federal government.
The project should begin in 2019 or 2020. The work should take about a year to complete.