Starkville awaits phase one of Main Street Improvements project
STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – Starkville’s downtown will soon welcome visitors and offer new options for everyone with a new look.
Phase one of the Main Street Improvements project begins next week.
And there could be some growing pains.
Several renovations are happening in Starkville.
Parks are changing, Highway 182 is taking shape, and Main Street is next on the list.
“It’s busy, so we’ve got a lot of things we want to continue and a lot of things we want to finalize and finish up,” Mayor Lynn Spruill said. “So we’ve been really fortunate and gotten a lot of support from the community to do several large projects.”
July 14 marks the beginning of Phase 1 for the Main Street Improvements project.
It will create a different traffic flow and cause adjustments to daily businesses during construction.
Through that build, Mayor Lynn Spruill is focusing on the long-term goal.
“It’s intended to create a main street that is much more user-friendly,” Spruill said. “It is pedestrian-oriented, offering opportunities for outdoor activities and dining. We are going to have lights, and we are going to improve the infrastructure downtown. We have already done the water and the sewer lines. So they are on the ground, we will have asphalt. There will be less of a change in the elevations from locations, so it will just be much more pedestrian-friendly, and it will encourage people to want to be downtown in a different kind of way.”
The 12-18 month project is making business owners find other ways to keep their customers coming through the doors.
Longtime business owner that’s located in Main Street, Alaina Prentice said she is excited to see the future of downtown.
“Progress is wonderful, change is really good,” Prentice said. “With all kinds of change there’s little hurdles, you’ve got to get over but change is always good. This is going to be such a wonderful thing once it is done, it is going to be beautiful.”
Spruill said the project has been a long-awaited operation for the area.
“I’m very excited for it become real, we’ve been talking about it for so long, it feels like we are finally getting at it,” Spruill said.
Starkville alerts will show the progress of the Main Street Improvements project.
