By JESSA PEASE / Staff Writer

PELHAM— Design work for the greenway/trails project in Pelham can soon begin, according to City Council President Rick Hayes, after the city was awarded a $2.5 million Regional Planning Commission grant for the project.

The funding is through the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement program focused on supporting the environment through transportation and related projects.

“It’s a great jump start for us,” Hayes said in a Jan. 4 interview. “The thought process is that we start using it for engineering money.”

The CMAQ grant provides $2 million to the city to use for engineering and construction for all the various pieces of the Greenway project. Pelham will match the grant with $500,000.

Hayes said he’s already received authorization from ALDOT to hire an engineer and get started with the initial phase of the project.

“We are looking to hire designers as soon as we can get to the process,” he said. “We had to get to this point in January, and now we are going to start evaluating.”

The city budgeted $336,000 for the 2015 fiscal year to put toward the project, and will request reimbursement as it begins to spend money on the project. Hayes said once they request reimbursement, the city will receive it in 60 to 90 days.

Hayes said the city is also applying for two additional grants to use for the project. One is state level funding, which they are applying for by Jan. 29. If awarded, Pelham would receive $400,000 and match the grant with $100,000.

The other grant is a local fund. Hayes said the city would usually only receive the local or the state funding, but it is possible to be awarded both. If Pelham is awarded with local funding, it would also receive $400,000 with the city matching $100,000.

The Greenway project is a six-and-half-mile trail system connecting an in-place sidewalk at Bearden Road to the entrance of Oak Mountain State Park. The plan illustrates the trail following Bishop Creek along Oak Mountain Park Road between Amphitheater Road and John Findley Drive.

Hayes said part of the project is also a continuation of what is in the current Pelham City Park, which will also serve as the footprint for the new Pelham Park Middle School.

“We are anxious to get rolling ASAP,” Hayes said. “It’s very exciting. We want to get the first phase of it, very well underway during this fiscal year. We’ve only got nine months left in this fiscal year.”