Ask The Dispatch: All Your Questions Answered About Main Street’s Redesign

STARKVILLE — Main Street continues to undergo a pedestrian-friendly redesign, and residents should be able to see construction on the project early next year.

“I think it’s going to be incredibly positive in the long run for all of the merchants and people that are downtown, and I think it’s going to draw people downtown in a way that’s consistent with what the university is doing and what it’s planning to do,” Mayor Lynn Spruill told The Dispatch on Friday. “It’s one of those things that I think is worth the wait, worth the funding, and worth the disruption.”

The Masterplan Main Street – approved by the city’s City Council in 2022 – includes expanding sidewalks in front of businesses on Main Street, removing the right turn lane on Montgomery Street, and adding trees along the edge of Main Street and string lights above the road. It also includes reorienting parking spaces, as some of the angled parking spaces would be converted to parallel parking to make room for the wider sidewalks.

Spruill said the project is divided into two phases. Phase one will extend from City Hall to Jackson Street, though it will also include the intersection of Montgomery Street. Construction on that phase should begin in January, she said.

Phase two covers the area from Jackson Street to Montgomery Street, but whether that phase actually rolls out is still dependent on funding, Spruill said.

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How is the Main Street redevelopment being financed?

Sandra Sistrunk, Ward 2 Councilwoman and Budget Chair, told The Dispatch on Friday that the city has about $9.5 million available for the project, in cash and committed funds.

This year, she said, the city received two appropriations from the state Legislature totaling $3 million, bringing the amount of funding from the state Legislature over the past three years to $6.25 million.

The city also has $1 million from the Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority, a $2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and $100,000 from the Main Street Association allocated to the project. With the interest income from those funds, the city will also pick up a “little bit of change,” she said.

Sistrunk said she hopes the funding the city has will cover the first phase of the project. For the second phase, the city is still looking at potential funding sources, she said, including possible future state appropriations, other grants and possibly a small bond issue.

“A million here, a million there, and soon the project will have paid for itself,” Sistrunk said.

Chris Williams, deputy city engineer and project manager, estimates the first phase of the redesign project will cost about $8.5 million. However, no bids have been issued for the work yet.

Where is the project now?

Williams told The Dispatch Friday that the city is waiting to complete an environmental impact statement required by the HUD grant, but drawings for Phase 1 of the project are 90% complete.

The plans will be sent to contractors for bids in October, he said. Construction will begin early next year, with the first phase taking about a year and a half to complete.

Spruill said she hopes construction can begin in January to minimize the impact on downtown businesses.

“We want to do this after the football season and after the Christmas period so that the traders in the city centre are not disturbed during their best sales times,” said Mayor Spruill.

While construction for the redesign has not yet begun, other work to prepare Main Street for the redesign has been completed. Starkville Utilities has rolled out a $2.5 million project upgrade water and sewer lines in the city center between May and October 2023. The costs were covered by funds from the American Rescue Plan Act.

Once the water and sewer work was completed, Spruill said, the city repaired the road to make it more passable. More extensive resurfacing will wait until the above-ground work is completed so the city won’t have to damage the newly poured asphalt, she said.

What about parking?

When Kimley Horn Landscape Architect Henry Minor presented When the board submitted a proposal for a redesign in 2021, concerns were raised about the number of parking spaces that would be affected by the project.

Williams estimated Friday that only about seven parking spaces would be lost during Phase 1 of the project. He said the losses will be minimized as the design is rolled out by adding parking to side streets, such as Montgomery and Lampkin streets.

Other parking solutions, such as a city center parking garage, are longer-term goals, Spruill said.

“Would I want to build a small parking garage somewhere downtown, yes, I would,” Spruill said. “Do we have a location in mind? No. Do we have financing? No.”