St. Martinville was one of six Main Streets throughout Louisiana to receive the Thriving Communities Program grant.
The grant is available through the U.S. Department of Transportation and Development through Main Street America/ Louisiana Main Street, and helps underserved communities advance infrastructure projects to help them thrive.
City of St. Martinville Main Street Director Danielle Fontenette said the city will receive 30% of $1.9 million that will go towards making transportation on Main Street more accessible.
She said based on audits and walk studies, it was clear what the city needed.
“The downtown was not accessible by foot traffic because our sidewalks are too small, our lighting is not as strong,” Fontenette said.
“It was something that Mayor Willis was really, you know, he had a passion to really be able to get everybody to have accessibility to downtown. So the first thing was looking at the width of the sidewalks that were really small, and in some areas of downtown there is no sidewalks. So you weren’t even able to walk.”
Fontenette said they would also like to add sidewalks connecting St. Martinville Senior High School to Magnolia City Park.
