EDC, city celebrate sidewalk project completion for Constitution Drive, The Narrows

By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press 

The Copperas Cove Chamber of Commerce, along with the Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation and the City of Copperas Cove, celebrated the completion of the sidewalk project for The Narrows Business & Technology Park and Constitution Drive with a ribbon cutting on Wednesday.
The approximately 1.7 miles of sidewalks go along Robert Griffin III Boulevard starting at the intersection of Old Copperas Cove Road, and loop around Charles Tillman Way, then along Constitution Drive. 
A number of local officials were present for the ribbon cutting, to include Copperas Cove Mayor Bradi Diaz, who shared a few words with those in attendance. She pointed out that joggers were already using the new sidewalks. 
“I don’t know if you noticed the jogger that went down the sidewalk earlier, so they are already being utilized by our citizens of Copperas Cove,” Diaz said. “The sidewalks help meet needs of our community, and provide safe walking and biking locations. This project is in combination with the U.S. 190 sidewalks and bike lanes, to get citywide connectivity for walkability and bike-ability.” 
She went on to thank MRB Engineers, TxDOT, KTMPO, city staff who worked on the project, as well as the contractor who built them, Choice Builders, “for an outstanding project that will last decades.”
Also in attendance were Copperas Cove city councilmembers Fred Chavez, Dianne Campbell, and Jay Manning, as well as EDC staff and board members. 
Copperas Cove City Manager Ryan Haverlah spoke about the sidewalks’ significance for that area of the community. He began by thanking the EDC, who helped fund the project as well. 
“This project would not have happened with all of our regional partners, as well, KTMPO is made up of our regional partners, and they actually supported this project and scored this project high enough to receive enough grant funding to make these sidewalks a reality,” Haverlah said. “This is the start of connecting our city so we can walk and bike the entire city length.”
After the ribbon cutting, the chamber of commerce held its monthly mixer, with The Reef Food Truck providing free smoothies to those who attended. 
The project funding came from the Killeen Temple Metropolitan Planning Organization, and the sidewalks are part of the area’s Regional Thoroughfare and Pedestrian/Bicycle Plan and the projects have been part of the city’s and KTMPO’s plans for a number of years before becoming a reality. 
During KTMPO’s 2016 reprioritization, KTMPO received 19 projects to compete for Transportation Alternatives Program, or TAP funds. Among them were projects for sidewalks along Constitution Drive and in The Narrows Business & Technology Park. 
At that time, KTMPO’s Technical Advisory Committee recommended to fully fund Copperas Cove’s request to install sidewalks at The Narrows (RGIII at Old Copperas Cove Road) project with TAP funds, and partially fund sidewalks for The Narrows (Constitution Drive), with the Category 7 and Category 9 funding for that portion of the project.