$750,000 for Sidewalk Rights-of-Way

City Councilwoman, "transportation queen," and blogger Sandy Carmany offered to look into questions raised in an earlier post about how much it will cost the City of Greensboro to buy sidewalk rights-of-way on Wendover Avenue and Bridford Parkway. She was as good as her word.

The long and short of it: it's projected to cost $750,000. GDOT director Jim Westmoreland's whole explanation can be read in comments here, and you can download an excel spreadsheet of the projected costs here. You can see the city's whole sidewalk plan here.

Thanks Sandy, for looking into this. All I can say is, I wish so much of that money didn't have to go toward this particular segment of the sidewalk plan: that's about 15% of the total sidewalk bond money going toward the purchase of right-of-way on Bridford and Wendover alone.

Wouldn't it be civic-minded of all those business owners to decide that, since the sidewalks will be improving their connectivity, and therefore helping their business, they could just donate that right-of-way to the citizens of Greensboro? I know I would. (But then, that's why I'm not rich.)

Nevertheless, shame on me for not being involved in the planning process sooner. I should have gone to the meetings.

UPDATE: Sandy Carmany adds:

. . . some of that right-of-way is being used to add additional right turn lanes at some of the intersections to hopefully improve traffic flow, so all the expense is not just for sidewalks. (And while you are questioning the need for sidewalks in this area, take a look at one telltale sign that clearly indicates a need - the bare footpaths that have been worn into the grass in some locations indicating heavy pedestrian traffic, hopefully not all panhandlers.)

Second, a couple of the businesses ARE donating the right-of-way on their properties.

And third, the state has agreed to ante up and pay for some of this project. Sure, that's still "your" money, just out of a different pocket, but it does free up more of our local money to place more sidewalks elsewhere in the city.

I'm really glad to hear that the money is going for sidewalks that are truly needed. I'm just guessing, but I'll bet a lot of that foot traffic is from people who work in those stores and restaurants, but have to take the bus to get there. And I have occasionally seen people risking their lives by actually trying to walk across Wendover. Scary.