By Natalie Anderson
natalie.anderson@salisburypost.com

SALISBURY — City council members on Tuesday gave Manager Lane Bailey the go-ahead on contracts for the final stages of a Grants Creek Greenway project as well as a citywide signal system network upgrade.

The Grants Creek project will extend the city’s greenway from the Meadowbrook neighborhood to Kelsey Scott Park. Initial funding for the project was obtained via Transportation Alternative Program funds, and the first phase of the project will begin around May 5, Engineering Director Wendy Brindle said. That phase will create a low-water bridge connection from Catawba College to the existing greenway near Forestdale Drive.

Brindle said the project has been split into phases as separate grants have been obtained along the way.

The construction of the low-water bridge connection amounts to about $640,000 and comes from NCDOT Transportation Alternatives Program funds. Brindle told the Post construction is expected to be complete by August. Dane Construction is the contractor for the project.

Remaining funds for the project were granted by the Cabarrus-Rowan Metropolitan Planning Organization through Surface Transportation Block Grant funds and will fund the final two phases. The two remaining phases of the project extend the greenway from Catawba College to Wiltshire Village condominiums — a phase that’s 65% designed at this time — and then to Kelsey Scott Park. The greenway will be adjacent to parts of the Salisbury National Cemetery Annex on the campus of the Salisbury VA.

The city received $1.47 million in federal funding for construction of the next phase, and the city will be responsible for $563,535. For the final stage, the city received $2.18 million and will be responsible for $544,000, making the total city obligation for the project a little more than $1 million.

“So we’re getting potentially $4.7 million worth of greenway for just over $1.1 million,” said council member Brian Miller during the meeting. “You had me at hello.”

As part of another project, a federal Surface Transportation Block Grant in the amount of $343,000 was provided to the city from the Cabarrus-Rowan Metropolitan Planning Organization to support upgrades and improvements to the city’s servers, switches, software and CCTV cameras associated with the traffic signal system. The city’s local match is $85,750 Brindle said the city’s current system was implemented in 2014, and some pieces of equipment can no longer be maintained.

The project would implement 13 additional traffic incident management cameras and make upgrades to the core switch, involve a server replacement, Microsoft software licensing and fiber repair throughout the entire system.

Brindle said some of the equipment qualifies for a pro-rated amount since NCDOT is responsible for 85% of maintenance costs, which makes the city’s obligation even smaller. Some of the city’s 20% match will be reimbursed.

Brindle said the signal system upgrade project was added late to the city’s capital improvement program list, but totals for both projects have been accounted for in the 2021-22 fiscal year budget.

Contact reporter Natalie Anderson at 704-797-4246.