Villa Rica last fall finished the second of two sidewalk projects in its quest to begin making the city more pedestrian-friendly, but that’s where the work seemingly stopped.

As to the lack of work since the stretch of sidewalks down Mirror Lake Boulevard were completed, city officials said they have been distracted with other major projects but will soon begin work on other sidewalk projects in the city.

“It is still a priority and sidewalks will be completed,” City Manager Danny Mabry said. “We’re entering into a good time of year to do sidewalk work, in terms of the weather.”

Villa Rica started its sidewalk projects in early 2006, working on South Carroll Road, running new pedestrian paths the length of the road to Wal-Mart, before working on the Mirror Lake Boulevard path the between Shoreline Parkway and the Publix Shopping Center.

The city had $41,000 budgeted for new sidewalks and improvements to existing sidewalks during the last fiscal year. While some of those funds were comprised of SPLOST revenue, others came from the city’s general fund.

But after completing sidewalks on South Carroll Road and Mirror Lake Boulevard, only $18,500 had been spent. Of the remaining funds, $20,000 is included in this year’s budget for sidewalks.

“We’ve got a little money to spend so we’re looking where we can go next with the limited funding we have left,” Community Development Manager Eric Lacefield said.

Other possible sidewalk projects chosen by the mayor and council include: North Avenue, from Main Street to Highway 61 at Tanner Hospital; Highway 61/Main Street, from South Carroll Road to the Highway 61/Highway 101 split; Rockmart Road, from Highway 61 to Industrial Boulevard; Industrial Boulevard, from Highway 101 to Tiny Cole Road; Conners Road, from Highway 78 to Mirror Lake Boulevard; Thomas Dorsey Drive, from Glanton Street to Spring Street; Glanton Street, from Highway 78 to Thomas Dorsey Drive; Spring Street, from Thomas Dorsey Drive to Westview Drive; Westview Drive, from Spring Street to West Wilson Street; Candler Street, from Spring Street to West Wilson Street; Wilson Street (east and west), from Highway 78 to Thomas Dorsey Drive; Stone Street, from East Wilson Street to Highway 78 to the library; Community Square, from Highway 78 to the post office; Stockmar Road, from Gold Creek Drive to Mirror Lake Parkway; Conners Road, from Mirror Lake Parkway to Summer Breeze Drive; Tyson Road, from Conners Road to Balsam Wood Trail; and Rocky Branch Road, from Highway 78 to Villa Rica High School.

“Those aren’t necessarily in priority order or anything,” Lacefield said. “We’ll just have to see which ones we have enough money to get started on and go from there. We’re not done. It’s a money thing and we’ve just got to get the money together.”

If each of these projects is completed, it will total more than 11 miles of sidewalks.

The city has also been award a $500,000 TE (transportation enhancement) grant by the Georgia Department of Transportation for a connector trail network from Stone Street to Mirror Lake Boulevard, meant to tie downtown to the Mirror Lake area.

In its grant application, the city stated it would provide a minimum of an 8-foot wide trail connecting Stone Street with Cleghorn Street, and Cleghorn Street with Punkintown Road (Mirror Lake Boulevard). A connecting sidepath is proposed to be constructed along Cleghorn Street. These will be multi-use trails to serve both runners and bicycle riders.

The city estimated the overall cost of the project to be $1.25 million, including funds for design, property acquisition and construction. The city had applied for $1 million in TE funds and offered to match that with $250,000 in local funds.

The concept plan for the project has been submitted to GDOT for approval and design of the project has started.

“We’ve determined that the project will take more than this TE grant,” Lacefield said.

“It’s going to be a phased project so we submitted an application for the second phase as well.”

The TE grants are awarded in two-year cycles. Last year, GDOT received 275 eligible applications from across the state, accounting for $220 million in requested funds during a funding cycle in which only $54.6 million was available. Villa Rica and other local municipalities are too small to be entitlement cities - cities large enough to be guaranteed TE grant money - and so must compete among each other for grant funding. Not all the local cities who apply for funds received them.