We were please to see a new sidewalk on W. Washington St that allows some students to safely walk to Legacy Elementary School. Bike Walk Greenville has consistently cited our community’s lack of sidewalks to allow safe walking to our schools.
Nineteen months ago Greenville County voters rejected a sales tax to pay for roads and sidewalks. So how are new sidewalks getting built? To our knowledge there are no plans at the County level to address these needs. However were pleased that the City of Greenville has a program called NSTEP.
The Neighborhood Sidewalk Targeted Expansion Program (NSTEP) was developed to address the need for new sidewalk all over the City. Through this program, every City-owned street that does not have sidewalk has been identified, rated, and ranked. Approximately 1 mile of new sidewalk is installed each year based on funding. The budget has been $700,000 to $750,000 per year recently.
The City is currently out for bids for the 2016 projects:
5900 linear feet of new sidewalk with curb lawn, curb and gutter, and driveway aprons on three separate street sections. The street sections include the following:
- Buena Vista Avenue from Batesview Drive to Karen Drive
- Harrington Avenue and Prescott Street
- Haviland Avenue, Nicholtown Road, and Rebecca Street
A mile a year with city funding is a model that the County and the other municipalities should emulate. We need more funding for sidewalks, and County Council and Cities Councils need to hear this message from their constituents.