Sneak Peak Of Selma To Montgomery Route March Plans
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You may have seen construction along downtown Montgomery as the city prepares for its 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March next year — but what will the final plans actually look like?
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Circled, you see the $1.3 million dollar project that spans from Oak Street to Dexter Avenue in downtown Montgomery. It’s nearly three miles.
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Mobile Street is supposed to look like this — you can already see the freshly planted Japanese Cherry trees aligning the roadway.
“The new green screen fence: that’s a way to hide the interstate and improve that area which most people aren’t comfortable walking under an overpasses and so making that feel more pedestrian friendly,” Said one of the project designers, Lydia Shows, describing Holt Street and West Jefferson Avenue.
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Dexter Avenue is seeing new sidewalks and new greenery. Sheyanne Christburg walked the trail back in 1965. While it will look a bit different next year…Â
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“It tells me about how people are coming together as a people and as a unit and it reflects the importance, why that’s important, particulartly as it relates to young people,” Said Christburg.
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Mayor Todd Strange says improving the route gives more meaning behind the spirit of the trail…
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“There’s a lot more than dead shrubbery. There’s a lot of dilapidation… old homes and old businesses that have just been in disrepair. Some not even knowing who the ownership is aside from that, over-grown sidewalks and even areas through there that were part of the trail that didn’t even have sidewalks,” Said Strange.
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City leaders are asking drivers and pedestrians to be patient with lane closures. They say once all the construction is over with the new scenic route will be well worth it.
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President Obama has been invited to next year’s anniversary march. This is all just one part of the project, which is expected to be finished by February 2015.
