OEDC reveals Main Street plan at hearing

County Commissioners heard public input at their Jan. 27 meeting as part of the submission process for a federal grant to improve roads throughout the County, including plans by the Olney Economic Development Corporation to improve a stretch of downtown Main Street.

The Commissioners last year formed a committee to work on the Safe Streets for All grant, whose goal is preventing roadway deaths and injuries.

The Commissioners heard from residents and local leaders about what roadway improvements they should prioritize.

OEDC board president Johnny Moore, a longtime County resident, said his “concern only is safety.”

“This is also a regional problem because we have traffic coming through here on its way to another area and it creates an additional burden on our highway system or street system so as long as this effort moves more in a regional area, I think it would make the safest conditions for citizens of this town and county,” he said.

OEDC Executive Director Tom Parker told Commissioners that Olney could use help with a plan to slow truck traffic on Main Street and create traffic islands to encourage retail development.

“One of the things that has been discussed with the engineering group we have hired is a quieting of that strip that is about three blocks in town that we are working on to bring retail back into that area,” he said of the Main Street revitalization project.

“We don’t have a square so we are looking to take the intersection of Grand and Main Street and make that our square. Anyone who has been in Olney, we’ve got [State Highway] 114 running through there … trucks run through there at pretty aggressive speed. We are looking to appeal for some work on maybe some islands that would be placed in the middle of the blocks not to interfere with the turn lanes … but just to narrow some spots on Main Street.”