The Columbia Board of Aldermen on Feb. 4 authorized expenditure of up to $15,000 for school safety measures.

The board “desires to create a marked pedestrian walkway along the east side of Fonsoe Street” in the block between Main Street and Scuppernong Drive.

North Carolina Department of Transportation is to paint a dedicated walkway on the narrow street because the town owns too little right-of-way to install curb, gutter and sidewalk.

Cost estimate for the Fonsoe Street work ranged from $2,000 to $15,000, Rhett White, town manager, told the governing board, so the larger figure was authorized.

A second project will construct a sidewalk on the north side of Main Street from Columbia High School to the east end of the street, closing a gap between existing sidewalks and providing a continuous paved walkway from Scuppernong River to Food Lion. The board previously appropriated $5,000 to match NCDOT funding for this section of the work.

The town will apply $10,000 it has received from a Safe Routes to School grant to the project budget.

No timetable was discussed.

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