Grab your walking shoes because the Continental Sidewalk will be open soon.
The four-mile sidewalk trail will loop all the way around connecting FM 1709, S. Kimball Avenue and S. Carroll Avenue giving pedestrians easy access to parks, businesses, neighborhoods and multiple schools.
Over the last few weeks, contractors have cleaned up and added the finishing touches to landscaping and culvert crossings. Only a few minor details remain. The handrail installation is almost complete and crossbars are expected to be installed next week.
This sidewalk segment is part of the City’s 2030 Mobility Master Plan, a plan that identifies opportunities to reduce traffic congestion while simultaneously promoting the needs of residents, businesses, visitors and pedestrians.
The Continental Sidewalk Project portion of the plan is estimated to cost $317,000 and funding was made within the General Fund’s City Pathways Program.
For updates on this and other Southlake Mobility projects, follow Southlake Mobility on Facebook and visit www.ConnectSouthlake.com.
On Monday, November 12, the City of Southlake’s Planning and Development Services Department will host a city-wide SPIN meeting to obtain feedback on the development of FY 2013 project priority lists for sidewalk construction and wayfinding signage installation. This will take place at 6:00 p.m. in Town Hall in the Council Chambers located on the second floor. This meeting is an opportunity to review the staff-recommended sidewalk projects for 2013 and offer comments. The priority list will then be presented to the City Council in the next several weeks.
In FY2012, approximately 12,000 linear feet of sidewalk were added to the City’s infrastructure composed of the following projects:
Three more segments were approved by the City Council in FY2012 and are currently under design:
In addition to constructing new sidewalk and trail segments in FY 2012, the City also invested in the installation of signalized pedestrian crosswalks. These solar powered signalized crosswalks were funded out of the Red Light Camera Fund and allow for the safe crossing of pedestrians at key locations by alerting drivers to the presence of pedestrians. The following signals have been added:
Also, the Southlake Boulevard Sidewalks (FM 1709) is a major project taken on by TxDOT in partnership with the City to fill gaps between sidewalks already put in place by area developers. These gaps will be filled with eight-foot wide sidewalks in an effort to increase pedestrian connectivity, safety, and security. As TxDOT has recently approved and provided the majority of funding for this $1.28 million project, it is set to begin construction in early 2013. The City of Southlake’s matching contribution is $298,255 or twenty percent of the project’s initial cost. For more detailed information on these FY2012 projects, visit The City of Southlake’s FY 2012 Sidewalks Page.
Monday’s meeting is set to address the upcoming FY2013 sidewalk and signage projects to take place around the City. More detailed information about these upcoming projects will be provided at the meeting. For questions about this meeting, contact Lori Fletcher at 817-748-8069. If you have questions about projects under design, contact Public Works at 817-748-8098.