Courtesy of City of Homewood
18th Streetscape Project
Plans for the 18th Street beautification project are ready for approval from the state so Homewood can begin construction. It will include new parking, sidewalks, landscaping and a crosswalk.
The city’s plan to beautify 18th Street will mean new street layouts, parking and landscaping, but business owners along the street will also find changes in entry and exit for their parking lots.
Keith Strickland of Goodwyn Mills Cawood said the firm has been working with Homewood on designs for 18th Street from Central Avenue and 28th Avenue South to Vulcan.
The newest plans show about 65 angled parking spaces on both sides of 18th Street, narrowing the current wide lanes. Landscaping will also be added between parking sections and in a median on 18th Street, with a crosswalk near 27th Avenue South.
New sidewalks will feature brick pavers and Strickland said the median was modified to add a left turn lane for southbound traffic to turn onto 27th Avenue South, on the east side of the road.
Strickland said GMC and the city has done some redesigning after talking with 18th Street business owners. Rob’e Mans Automotive Service, for instance, was concerned that the city would need to take some of their right-of-way and that new parking would block access to their lot and garage from 18th Street.
The plans now show one entry for Rob’e Mans from 18th Street, at an alley between its two buildings, as well as access off of 26th and 27th Avenues. The post office would keep its 27th Avenue South entry, but its exit onto 18th Street would be replaced with an exit onto a small alley on the south side of the building.
South of the post office, businesses like Nadeau and Ed’s Pet World would no longer have 18th Street access, but their parking lots could still be reached from 27th Circle South, next to Central Avenue. Strickland said the new availability of angled parking in front of those businesses should mean customers won’t have a more difficult time reaching them.
Strickland also said except for temporary construction easements to do the work, the city has redesigned its plans so it will not take any right-of-way from property owners along 18th Street. The planners worked with MAM Investments, which is building a hotel and retail development on the east side of the road, on right-of-way access and making sure the new development and street beautification project will not interfere with each other.
The goal, Strickland said, is to “make sure everybody who has access today has access tomorrow,” even if that access to the road may be in a different location.
Strickland said they are currently working on getting plans approved by the state and gaining construction easements to do the work. The project likely won’t be put out for bid until around the start of 2020.
The city has had this project in its plans since 2015, and grants from the Transportation Alternatives Program and CMAQ will help offset the costs, above $2 million.
