- $2.9 million of federal funding kickstarts plans to build sidewalks and crosswalks along Paul Russell Road.
- Improvements will be from Monday Road to Apalachee Parkway.
- Construction begins in 2025.
- Watch video to hear from neighbors who live on Paul Russell Road about the plans.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Justin Scott Killam, Master Tech at Firestone Auto Care: "This is long overdue"
A project neighbors in Southeast Tallahassee say they've been waiting years for.
I'm your neighborhood reporter, Kenya Cardonne.
I'm walking you through the next steps to make Paul Russell Road safer.
Let me take you on a drive down Paul Russell Road in Southeast Tallahassee.
Notice— no sidewalks, no crosswalks, and little to no space beside the road.
A safety issue neighbors along this street tell me they've been dealing with for years.
Killam: "I see kids trying to walk on the street"
Justin Scott Killam has been working at the Firestone Auto Care on this street for nearly 13 years.
Killam: "There's elderly people that walk with walkers on this street, not even on the grass, because there's nowhere for them to walk."
He tells me, he even remembers one of his customers getting hit by a car on this road a few years ago, while they were walking their kid to school.
Killam: "It was him, his wife, and his daughter, and he threw luckily his daughter out of the way, so she didn't get hit by the car"
Plans to change that are now underway, thanks to $2.9 million of federal funding.
New sidewalks will be built from Monday Road to Apalachee Parkway.
Geri Atkinson-Hazelton, Neighbor: "It's really necessary for the people that live in this area to have a safe place to be able to walk, and right now we don't."
Susan Morgan-Smith and Geri Atkinson-Hazelton are next-door neighbors who live on Paul Russell Road.
Geri has lived here since 1953, when there were no roads at all.
She told me she was skeptical about the project at first because she's been promised a sidewalk twice and plans fell through both times.
So I checked in with Leon County Commissioner David O'Keefe who has been involved with this project to see if this is a project of false hope.. or success.
David O'Keefe, Leon County Commissioner: "For this sidewalk, this funding we just approved it for the fiscal 2025 year. It is approved, locked in."
I shared the news with Geri and Susan.
Morgan-Smith: "That's wonderful."
Atkinson-Hazelton: "It's really something we have needed and I think it's wonderful that it's locked in at this point, we appreciate all the efforts that the commissioners have made."
As of right now, the project is in its design phase.
Construction won't begin until 2025.
