Plans to improve MLK Boulevard move forward to preserve King’s legacy

Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, a four-lane street that runs through a blighted south Columbus neighborhood, carries the name of the civil rights icon. But some say it undermines his legacy.

City planners and a community group hope to change that with a series of long-awaited projects finally on the horizon.

Rick Jones, the city’s planning director, presented an update to the Columbus Council on Tuesday, describing plans for a resurfacing project scheduled to begin by summer.

The project is part of a long-range $3.4 million makeover that is expected to include sidewalks, bike lanes and a multi-use path along one side of the street. About $1.1 million had already been budgeted for resurfacing the road, and the rest will come from the paving fund and TSPLOST, Jones said in an interview with the Ledger-Enquirer.

The city will hold an open house on Jan. 26 so the community can preview plans for the project. The meeting will be held 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Brewer Elementary School, 2951 Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard.

The planning department is working with a group called Turn Around Columbus, which has been developing a Dr. Martin Luther King Outdoor Learning Trail to educate people in the community about Columbus black pioneers. Today, the group will lead a clean-up effort in observance of the King holiday. It will begin 9 a.m., starting at the corner of Macon and Rigdon Roads and ending at 10th Ave.

“The road needs to be worthy of the name that it carries,” Jones said. “That’s the important thing about it to us. It shouldn’t just be a run of the mill road in that regard. It should have some real importance to the community and the African-American community in particular.”

In the past, City Councilors Bruce Huff and Jerry “Pops” Barnes disagreed over whether the road should remain a four-lane thoroughfare or changed to three lanes to accommodate the proposed amenities. Huff argued in favor of four lanes, and Barnes in favor of three.

In his presentation before Council on Tuesday, Jones said the city plans to move forward with resurfacing the four-lanes as they now exist. The road will have four lanes plus a center turning lane from Brown Avenue to Buena Vista Road, Jones said, and four lanes without a turning lane from Brown to 10th Avenue. The project will include striping of the road, and traffic light enhancements at MLK Boulevard and Brown Avenue.

Councilor Huff was absent from Tuesday’s meeting, and Barnes made no objection.

“We’re really at the stage where we realize that we need to improve the condition of that roadway and go ahead and leave the lanes the way it is right now,” Jones told the Ledger-Enquirer. “Right now we’re going to leave it the way it is.”

Other upcoming improvements for the area include the construction of a bridge over the railroad at the traffic-plagued “spiderweb” on Buena Vista Road. The city plans to redirect MLK Boulevard and reconnect it to Illges Road. Annette Avenue, to the north, will come further south along Brewer Elementary School. A roundabout will also be constructed in the area. Those projects are expected to start in about 2019.

Jones said the city also plans to enhance the area with landscaping, but some of that may have to come later, depending on funding available.

He said “$3.4 million sounds like a lot of money. And it is to me, but when you get ready to do a project like this it doesn’t go very far.”

Ronzell Buckner, of Turn Around Columbus, said the Martin Luther King Jr. Outdoor Learning Trail starts at Macon Road, runs through MLK Boulevard, and goes all the way to the river. He said it will include markers and lighted sculptures that are already being designed. The first phase, on MLK Boulevard from Buena Vista to 10th Avenue, will start this summer.

Buckner said tourists will be able to book tours on a website, and the group will be placing brochures at welcome centers and visitors’ bureaus.

“We’re also doing it for our school kids, so they can go out on the trail and they can look at the contributions that civil rights leaders, here in our city, made in order to make this the great city that it is today,” he said. And the city’s resurfacing project will be a big improvement.

“If you look at our city, we’re honoring Dr. King with a 2.2 stretch of highway that leads to nowhere,” he said. “If you look at other cities our size, you see his name on the Interstate, you see his name on a thoroughfare going through the city. But when you come to our city you don’t see Dr. King’s name unless you live out in the south side of Columbus, or you work in the south side of Columbus.”

Buckner said tourists are coming to Columbus for whitewater rafting and other local attractions, and they have no sense of the rich black history in the area. He hopes the improvements on MLK Boulevard will change that.

“This is a part of the history of our country, this is part of the history of our city,” he said. “And we just want people to come and see what we have done in this city to make it a great place to live.”

This story was originally published January 15, 2017 at 12:29 PM with the headline "Plans to improve MLK Boulevard move forward to preserve King’s legacy."