The next

phase in Main Street Fayetteville's multi-year downtown

street improvement project should get under construction

soon, said the program's director.

"We're

getting the bids out right now," said director

Sherri Anderson.

Workers

will replace concrete sidewalks with brick pavers along

Lanier Avenue from Jeff Davis Drive to the historic

Hollingsworth House, and add early 1900s era street

lights as well.

That

project dovetails with a similar street-scaping the Main

Street Committee hopes to accomplish. The group has

applied for a federal grant of $177,000, to be matched

with $44,300 in Main Street funds, to put brick pavers

and street lights along Church Street, just off the

Courthouse Square.

Residents

of the area not only will get the benefit of the

aesthetic improvement, Anderson said, but also increased

safety from the street lighting, and the street also will

be curbed and guttered.

Another

recent Main Street project, renovation of the historic

train depot on the old City Hall property, has turned out

to be a smashing success, said Anderson.

Local

groups and individuals can rent the facility for $10 an

hour for weddings, parties, showers and other activities,

and they're doing that in huge numbers, she said.

"It's

booked every weekend both days, and on Fridays and even

during the week," she said.

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