Downtown Greer’s aging infrastructure, said to be more than a 100-years-old in places, will get an overhaul beginning in 2017. Downtown streets will also get new paving.
The project’s overall cost is estimated at $4 - 4.5 million. That does not include a $1.031 million, 75/25 matching grant, awarded Greer from the Greenville Legislation Delegation Transportation.
The total cost is reduced to $3.7 - $3.2 million with Greer earning $775,000 from the GLDT grant. Greer's part of the match grant is $256,000.
Greer Commission of Public Works, which will replace pipes and gas lines in the central business district, will spend about $2.5 million and the city’s portion is $2 million, according to City Administrator Ed Driggers.
“It’s a complex project with utility work beginning in 2017,” Driggers told city council Tuesday night. “We’re about one and a half years away from the paving part of the project.”
Greer will pave the roads, replace the gutters and replace/repair the sidewalks in 2018, according to Driggers.
Roads to be affected by the infrastructure are Depot Street, Poinsett Street, Randall Street, Trade Street and Victoria Street.
The closing of streets or re-designing downtown’s traffic pattern was not discussed.
A city planner, budgeted for this fiscal year, and the results of a study by Charlotte design/consulting firm Kimley-Korn, will help determine downtown’s future look, connectivity with walking/biking trails and an arts district.
Downtown restaurant and retail business owners have not been told the sequence of road closings.