A project to build a sidewalk on Coral Drive in Wrightsville Beach took a significant step forward recently and town manager Tim Owens is hopeful the sidewalk can be completed during summer of 2016.
The Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen approved the $100,000–$150,000 grant-funded project in March 2015 but the town just last month received the necessary contract from the North Carolina Department of Transportation to move forward.
Now the project can be surveyed, designed and engineered. Owens said the town would send out bid requests for the work. The initial sketch discussed earlier this year showed a 5-foot-wide sidewalk separated from the two-lane road by a 9- or 10-foot grassy area graded into a shallow swale.
While residents acknowledged a sidewalk was needed on the road because of the number of children walking to and from Wrightsville Beach School, some Coral Drive residents were concerned how far it would cut into the right of way bordering their yards.
Owens said residents would have more opportunities to provide input before and during the design phase.
“If we get an engineer on board, we’ll maybe have an open house or something to get input in that situation,” he said. “As the drawings progress we’ll hope to get more input.”
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