FOLEY, Ala. — With its public-information meeting Thursday evening, the city of Foley is one step closer to adding a pedestrian bridge and improving several streets.

That project includes providing 2,8 miles  of bicycle lanes, 12.9 miles of shared-use paths, 1.9 miles of complete streets and the previously-mentioned bridge, which will be situated over Alabama Highway 59.

According to the project plan, shared-use paths will be located along such roads as West Peach Avenue, Alabama Highway 59, East Berry Avenue, East Section Avenue, West Section Avenue, Cater Lee Way and Pride Drive, just to name a few. Improved complete streets will be provided along such roads as Park Avenue, both North and Pine Street, Alley and West Michigan Avenue, among others.

Bike lanes and resurfaced roadways will be added along Alabama Highway 59’s intersection with Azalea and Michigan avenues, and other areas.

Pededstrian signals and improveents will be added at the intersection of Alabama Highway 59 and Tanger Mall entrance, as well as the state road’s intersection with County Road 20.

As previously reported, Volkert was part of another such meeting in November, when the city of Foley sought input on its planned project to extend Pride Drive and allow direct traffic access from Alabama Highway 59 to Juniper Street.

This upcoming meeting comes a little more than a week after the city selected McCullough Architecture Inc. of OrangeBeach to draw up plans for the pedestrian-bridge portion of the endeavor.

While making that selection, city officials stressed that although McCullough and the other applicants presented renderings of their ideas for the bridge’s concept, plans for the structure have yet to be finalized with public input considered.

However, Councilman Ralph Hellmich did say the fixture most likely would have a brick façade and will resemble a train tressle while complementing the soon-to-come Centennial Plaza Clock Tower. The reason for that is the bridge is expected to be located in the downtown Foley area. But where, exactly?

“We haven’t decided yet,” Hellmich said. “If I had to guess, I’d say in the right of way north or south of Jessamine

Volkert presented the city with a set of criteria for that bridge back in December. It included a $1 million budget for the total package with $500,000 in the structure and the remainder for aesthetics. The project was made possible in September, when the city won a $4,728,507 Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) 2013 grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation for its transportation regional infrastructure pedestrian system.

Upon winning the grant last fall, city officials explained that they have wanted such a bridge for the last 20 years, and Volkert helped develop its concept several years ago with the creation of a master plan for the city of Foley.

The city held the same type of meeting in November to gather comments about its plans to extend Pride Drive. That meeting drew more attendees who had both questions and comments. However, last week’s meeting attendance was sparse. Also, no one spoke or asked questions during the public-comment portion of the meeting.

The full project’s final design is expected to be completed by June. Then the project will be let one per month, starting in September. Engineers are expected to complete all construction by January 2016.

“They will close the project out by that April,” said Jay Dickson of Volkert during the meeting.

But first, public comment on the project is still being sought. Foley residents have less than a week to let their voices be heard. To do so, they should mail their written comments to: Volkert, Inc., ATTN: Mrs. Paige Felts, 316 S. McKenzie St., Foley, AL36535.