Northport Council Adopts Southern Bicycle And Pedestrian Master Plan

NORTHPORT, AL — The Northport City Council on Thursday gave unanimous approval to a master plan aimed at providing additional access to bicycle and walking paths to connect the southern part of the city.

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The Southern Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan was completed over the summer and presented at a public involvement meeting on July 25. The master plan will now be considered for approval by Northport's Municipal Planning Organization (MPO).

Assistant City Engineer Brad Matthews told Patch that the MPO will hopefully take up both the Northern and Southern Pedestrian master plans by the end of the year, which would then allow the projects to be eligible for MPO funding if they are approved.

"There's been several projects completed in the past, such as the Levee Trail and then we've got ongoing projects — some short term, some long term — along Main Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and plus the improvements along Main Avenue and downtown that were recently completed and another phase of that is going to be built ... What the master plan does is looking how to interconnect it all and make it a comprehensive plan we can build from in the future and get everything connected."

Once completed, the project will consist of approximately three miles of shared use path/sidewalks/streetscape along the southern corridor of the City of Northport that will parallel several roadways, while providing connectivity to the existing Levee Trail and several established residential subdivisions and commercial properties.

According to the master plan that was adopted on Thursday, the project will be broken up into three different phases.

• Area No. 1 will be approximately 1.20 miles in length from Van de Graff Park and Arboretum to the entrance of Kentuck Park.
• Area No. 2 is approximately 1.00 miles in length from the entrance of Kentuck Park along Kentuck Road to existing Levee Walk Trail Head and 30th Avenue from 12th Street to 5th Street.
• Area No. 3 is approximately 0.75 miles in length from the intersection of Bridge Avenue/5th Street to Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard along Bridge Avenue and intersection of Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard and 20th Street to 18th Avenue along 20th Street.
• TTL says the entire project is expected to cost roughly $13.6 million.

"The benefit of projects like this to the community is tremendous and creates desirable living, shopping, and recreational opportunities that enhances the overall quality of life of the area," TTL said in the master plan. "It establishes a structure of public and private development and creates a desire to be in this area. This desire will continue to spurn economic impacts to the community."

TTL, Inc. developed both master plans after receiving initial approval from the Council in March to move forward with the northern portion of the project.

As Patch previously reported, designs for the $14 million project in the northern end of the city call for approximately four miles of 12-foot wide shared use path, with the paths also complimented by state-of-the-art LED lighting to improve visibility and safety for those walking, running or biking.

The goal of the project in the northern end of the city will be to better connect Tuscaloosa County High School, the surrounding neighborhoods and retailers along the Rose Boulevard/Mitt Lary Road corridor.

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