The $20,000,000.00 College Street Bridge Project - Part II

 

As we stated in Part I, since 2013, there have been three semi-official plans involving College Street and the proposed College Street Bridge. The first plan, made in conjunction with the state and later abandoned, is not available online. The City of Florence may not have paid anything toward the plan rejected by the state highway department except for salaries of staff who worked on the project.

The second plan was contracted to a Huntsville company, Morgan Farmer. We used the date 2018 in Part I; however, the MF website uses the date 2020. This may be the completion date of its study, but it's interesting to note since, according to Florence City Council president Dick Jordan, plans were already in the works to sell the former home of ECM Hospital to Joel Anderson Jr. and two of his business partners during this time frame.

What exactly is Morgan Farmer? From its website:

We work with regional councils and development districts in pursuing economic development strategies for municipal clients. We provide planning, design and construction management expertise. In addition, we’ve entered the renewable energy market through development of photovoltaic projects which include finance development, design and construction management for municipal entities.

Taxpayers should be asking why the city was paying for a study related to "economic development" when the center of said study was to be sold to a private investing group? Here's the final plan, indicating "future bridge construction" at proposed location of College Street bridge:

We also have to ask why, according to business owners, the 2013 project involved no public meetings concerning the widening of College Street? This project would have affected blocks of property owners. Yet the city held a neighborhood meeting of McFarland Heights residents to discuss a supposed current residential project that covers only two or so blocks?

If you think it may involve a football stadium, you could be right, but probably not in the way it's been previously discussed.

Part III: UNA's Highway 20 Connection...