LUMBERTON, NC (WBTW) – Lumberton City Council approved an engineering contract to begin designing phase one of a new part of the Riverwalk project at its meeting on Monday.
“We think it will have a major impact for our downtown,” said City Manager, Wayne Horne.
The City received $150,000 from the General Assembly to construct the first phase of the Lumberton Riverwalk.
“Right now what we hope to do is take the Riverwalk from third street down to fifth street,” Horne said. “It would be about a two block section, so council approved the engineering contract for that.”
City Council said both Public Works, and the Planning Department, met with Bo Noble, PE of Koonce Noble & Associates to write a proposal that would include construction documents, bid, permit and provide construction administration for the first phase of the project.
“Hopefully the engineers will start working right away on the design, so we get that part ready to build,” the City Manager said.
Council approved $15,000 of the $150,000 toward creating a design for a deck near the downtown entrance of the Riverwalk.
Horne said the renovations would be made near the former Department of Transportation building on Water Street.
The City Manager said he think it’s important to revitalize the Riverwalk because of the growing downtown area.
“The overall plan to improve the development of downtown is to improve business, and improve jobs, and kind of revitalize to bring downtown back up to where it used to be years ago,” said Horne.
Horne said the city has a deadline of roughly six months to complete the project.
