The plan to connect Downtown Cornelia to “Bypass Cornelia” with sidewalks along Level Grove Road is now closer than ever to becoming a reality. The City of Cornelia announced today it will begin Phase 2 of the Level Grove Road Sidewalk Project on June 23.
The city awarded the project to Wilcorp Construction in May. It’s been a decade in the making. The sidewalk project was first approved in 2011.
As work progressed on the plan in 2015, Cornelia City Manager Donald Anderson described it as a public safety issue.
“If you ride up Level Grove Road, you can see the trails where people walk from downtown to Ingles and Quality Foods,” Anderson explained. “It’s a dangerous thing.”
The first phase of the sidewalk project connected the downtown area to Wayside Street. This second phase will extend the sidewalks from Wayside Street to Highway 441 Bypass.
Once work begins, the contractor will have to close Level Grove Road in several locations to install a new sanitary sewer and storm pipe, says Anderson. The city will use reader signs at both ends of the project and its Nixel Alert system to notify the public of road closures.
Work on the project is expected to be completed in December 2021.
