Photo provided An artist’s rendition of the Washington Street and Second Street intersection.
The Columbus City Council has given initial authorization for funding for a project that seeks to add on-street parking and other traffic calming measures to Second Street corridor in the city’s downtown.
In a 6-0 vote Tuesday evening, the council passed a resolution authorizing the Columbus Redevelopment Commission to provide $1.4 million for the project. The commission voted last month to provide the funding but needed approval from the city council because the amount exceeds $500,000.
Unlike ordinances, resolutions only require one reading to to be fully approved.
The project aimed to reduce traffic speeds along Second Street and making the area more pedestrian-friendly, said redevelopment director Heather Pope.
Plans for the project include narrower lanes, bump outs, additional landscaping, improved pedestrian crossings, on-street parking, improved drainage, new curbs and 18 new ramps that comply with the American with Disabilities Act.
Pope said the proposed plan includes 41 new parking spaces, with 37 being standard spaces and four being ADA-compliant.
Officials also plan to put in infrastructure at Second Street and Lafayette Avenue in case the Indiana Department of Transportation decides to convert this into a signalized intersection in the future.
“What we’re trying to do is implement one of the items that was identified in the Envision Columbus document by slowing that traffic and making it more pedestrian on the south side of Second Street,” Pope said during the city council meeting on Tuesday.
Dave O’Mara Contractor Inc. was the lowest qualified bidder with $1.163 million, though the commission budgeted in a 20% contingency, which brings the not-to-exceed amount to $1,395,600.
Pope said the city would plan to engage Dave O’Mara Contractor Inc. by the end of the year, with construction starting by March 2024.
City engineer Andrew Beckort said prevously that the city expects most of the project to be finished by August 2024.
