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Cusseta-Chattahoochee County awarded $600,000 SEID grant to start Ft. Benning trail segment
Summary
The county notified commissioners it received a $600,000 SEID grant for a trail beginning at Fort Benning; commissioners must confirm interest and will select an engineer to start planning, with preliminary routing and sidewalk work still under review.
Cusseta-Chattahoochee County officials said the county has been awarded a $600,000 Southern Economic and Infrastructure Development (SEID) grant to build the first segment of a trail connecting toward Fort Benning.
County Manager Thomas Weaver told the commission on Dec. 2 that the county received official notice of the award and must formally confirm interest before Dec. 4 so the grantors can begin detailed planning. Weaver said the county will need to select an engineering firm to produce project designs and plans before construction can start and cautioned that such grant projects can be slow to move from design to construction.
Why it matters: County staff and commissioners view the grant as a major opportunity to expand walking and bicycle connections and to tie regional destinations to Cusseta’s recreation facilities. Staff said an early decision on an engineer will speed the schedule and allow the county to apply local priorities to the design work.
What happened in the meeting: Weaver identified three candidate engineering firms for the selection process (EMC Engineering, Ingram & Associates, and Moon Meeks & Associates) and recommended the commission consider EMC at the next meeting. He also said a previously proposed route from West Railroad to the recreation center will not work as planned and that staff are evaluating a sidewalk from the library to the rec center as an alternative alignment that could be bundled with the grant-funded work.
Next steps: The commission instructed staff to add engineer selection to the Jan. 6 meeting agenda, and Weaver said staff will present scoring details and recommendations. No formal vote on engineer selection occurred at the Dec. 2 meeting.
