Thursday morning the Downtown Development Authority, along with First National Bank and the City of Bainbridge held their groundbreaking ceremony for the Broad Street Alley Project, which will allow for a safe walking area and convenient back access to stores.

The Broad Street Alley Project was first discussed when the Downtown Development Authority created their master plan four years ago. Amanda Glover, director of the DDA described the alley project as having a concrete pedestrian way with the etched diamond shape, like the sidewalks do and having café lighting. She hopes in the future it will also have café chairs and possibly corn hole and be a great place for businesses to use their back entrances.

Community partner, First National Bank was delighted when they heard Glover’s plans for an underutilized space.

“When Amanda first approached us about this idea, she was thinking outside the box,” FNB President, Brad Barber said. “That’s what we like to see and hear and we were excited to become a part of this.”

Glover had approached a number of companies about the town becoming a rural tax district. She wanted to see what the city could do on a public level to create public amenities for the private companies who had invested and FNB was honored to come on board and help with the project.

Whittaker Landscaping and Irrigation also volunteered to work on the project. They are a local business and will be doing all the work necessary after the city completes demolition and upgrades the sewer and water lines. The company estimates it will take between three-four weeks, depending on the City and the weather.

Although the City is working on this project, the money was already set aside and is a private project funded by the DDA, the City and FNB. It does not use any TSPLOST funds for the upgrade.

Glover is excited about the renovation and all the changes coming to downtown Bainbridge and looks forward to seeing what comes next.