Sandy Springs City Council amended its budget to add $1.2 million for the Roswell North Boulevard project and $1 million for the PATH 400 Trail project after receiving federal funding via the Atlanta Regional Commission.
Allen Johnson, the city’s TSPLOST (Transportation Special Local Option Sales Tax) manager, told the council during its Tuesday meeting that the budget amendment included local matching funds of $440,000 required to get the federal dollars.
“If you look at the amendment, it’s basically adding additional funds that we’re getting from the federal government for these projects. So we’re getting an additional $960,000 to help pay for the design of Roswell North, and an additional $800,000 for CEI (construction, engineering and inspection) for PATH 400,” Johnson said.
The city council also approved accepting a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) grant of $750,000 for the PATH 400 trail section in Sandy Springs during its Aug. 3 meeting.
“What we’re simply doing here is substituting federal funds for local funds, and then that frees up the local funds to go elsewhere in the TSPLOST program,” Mayor Rusty Paul said.
The city council approved a $20.1 million contract for the PATH 400 trail extension into the city in May.
The Path 400 Trail Extension will be a walkable and bikeable trail next to GA 400 extending from Loridans Drive to a point in the southern part of the city inside the Perimeter. It will be the northern segment of the 5.2-mile PATH 400. Sandy Springs eventually will have 2.3 miles of the trail extension built.
In July the city council awarded a $1.15 million contract for concept design services for the Roswell Road North End Boulevard project.
At that meeting, Public Works Director Marty Martin said the Roswell Road North End Boulevard Project will improve bicycle and pedestrian facilities and improve safety and operations on Roswell Road between Roberts Drive and Dunwoody Place. The project will include a landscaped median and a 12-foot-wide sidepath with a 5-foot-wide landscape buffer. A signal system with a pedestrian crossing will be installed north of Dunwoody Place at North River Parkway.