The Troy City Council is seeking to build a new multi-use path along Elm Street using grant funds from the Transportation Alternatives Program (TAP) of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

The city already has four TAP projects ongoing and unanimously voted to pursue a new TAP grant for 2018 at their council meeting Tuesday.

“We’re looking at doing sidewalks from College Street to George Wallace on Elm Street,” said Tim Ramsden, CDG engineer. “We’re proposing putting a multi-use path on the side of the road with the tennis courts and putting a curb and gutter along the road for the length of the project.”

Ramsden said the multi-use path would be open to cyclists and strollers in addition to pedestrians.

The total cost of the project is estimated at $598,000 of which the FHWA would pay 80 percent, leaving the city’s 20 percent match at just over $121,000. Ramsden clarified that the 80 percent match by the federal department excludes about $2,000 of non-reimbursable expenses.

Ramsden reported that construction is “about two-thirds completed” on the 2014 TAP grant project, which includes replacing certain downtown sidewalks and adding pedestrian-level lighting.

The 2015 TAP grant project will also begin soon, Ramsden said, with a projected start date of January 2. That project would also create a multi-use path along Trojan Parkway and John H. Witherington Drive, the new roads created as part of the Enzor Road Connector Project.

The 2016 TAP grant will provide for a multi-use path from Troy University to the Square and the 2017 TAP grant will go toward more sidewalk replacement in the downtown district.

In other business, the council:

• Approved a one-year contract extension with Haynes Ambulance for ambulatory services.

• Approved a contract with EEE Fencing to construct a chain-link fence with wing slats to conceal the city’s utility storage area next to Alphonsa Byrd Drive.

• Approved modifications made to City Hall including the rearranging of certain doorways and the splitting of an office space.

• Approved the purchase of a new trailer at $1,700 for the Grounds Department to replace one that was stolen from the property.

• Approved work done by the Environmental Services Department on South Hillcrest Drive to eliminate storm erosion from occurring to two properties.

• Approved a one-year contract extension with Durden Billboards for the “Shop Local” campaign.

• Approved to increase the amount given quarterly to three employees of the Pike County Board of Registrars from $100 per person to $200 per person.

• Approved a purchase agreement with Citgo on U.S. Highway 231 as an emergency fueling station for city vehicles if the city’s primary fueling station is unavailable for any reason.

• Approved a franchise agreement with Southeast Alabama Gas District.

The Troy City Council will meet again at City Hall on December 26 as regularly scheduled. The executive committee is planned to begin at 4 p.m. upstairs and the council meeting will follow in the City Council Chambers at 5 p.m.