Waynesboro gets $300,000 more for greenway project
By Elizabeth Billips Associate Editor

The City of Waynesboro will receive $300,000 more to help build a greenway and welcome center.

Monday, the Georgia Department of Transportation announced that the project was one of 15 in our district selected to receive Transportation Enhancement (TE) funds in 2008- 2009.

This marks the city's third TE grant, having received nearly $900,000 since the planning stage began back in 2004.

Though construction was originally slated for summer 2006, it has yet to begin.

"I didn't realize how long the process for a TE grant was," Mayor Jesse Stone said, pointing out that the RDC's environmental study alone took more than a year to complete. "It's very sequential … we've spent a lot of time waiting on approval from one step so that we could start the next one."

Once the waiting is over, Waynesboro residents will get an approximate 2-mile exercise trail linking downtown Waynesboro to the south end of town.

The trail will consist of a section of existing sidewalks, along with a new 10-foot wide paved path which will loop through the woods behind the old Bi-Lo and school complex.

The trail will begin on Barron Street, where the historic ice plant will eventually be turned into a welcome/education center.

Mayor Stone hopes the bidding process for the trail construction will begin by spring, with construction underway by summer.