Sylvester residents question sidewalk project - WALB.com, Albany News, Weather, Sports

Sylvester residents question sidewalk project

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SYLVESTER, GA -

A road project in Sylvester has some people in one neighborhood upset and confused about why sidewalks and parking spaces are needed on their road.

The mayor says the project will help connect the city, but some residents think it might be a waste of money.

The last thing Evelyn Polk would have expected is getting her car stuck in a utility line hole as she tried to turn onto Isabella Street in Sylvester, but as fate had it, she did.

"They didn't have a sign or anything saying I couldn't come through here. No blocks or nothing saying I couldn't come through here, so I just came on through and I fell down in this hole," said Polk.

She's not the only person wondering why sidewalks and parking spaces are coming to Isabella Street.

"It's going to be beautiful, I'm sure, but I just can't see somebody coming and parking and walking up and down this short strip of street, you know?" said Karen Ryals.

Karen Ryals says the million dollar project could have been better thought out.

"I just can't see it. I could be wrong and I hope I wrong, but I just can't see people coming to park and walk," said Ryals.

Some residents we talked to say this project has been an inconvenience because they can't access their driveway as they normally do, but they say it'll be worth it in the end.

"We got input from the neighborhood there and actually that was the design the folks who live on that street pick," said Mayor Bill Yearta.

Mayor Yearta says benefits of the project are endless, especially safety for pedestrians.

"We looked at studies that narrowing the streets would actually calm the traffic and slow the traffic in that area also which would be a benefit," said Mayor Yearta.

Still, some just don't see it that way.

"I don't see a lot of people walking on that road there I think the city is wasting their money when they could be fixing the roads with it," said resident Tammie Long.

The project will be completed in the next couple of months. Drivers like Polk hope sooner than later.

Some people were upset that a couple of oak trees were cut down during the project, but Mayor Yearta said the trees were diseased or dying and were cut down as a safety precaution.

Phase two of this project will add more sidewalks farther down Isabella Street. That phase is scheduled to begin soon after the current project is complete.

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