A new lighted sidewalk winding through Meridian Community College’s campus is expected to increase safety and make travel easier for those with disabilities, said MCC President Tom Hubner on Wednesday.

 

Joined by Meridian and Lauderdale County officials, Transportation Commissioner Willie Simmons and MCC leaders, Hubner celebrated the completion of the new sidewalk with a ribbon cutting near the college’s track and field building.

At approximately five feet wide and made with reinforced materials, the sidewalk starts near the MCC Athletic Performance Center, following Perimeter Drive before heading uphill behind the Holladay Center for E-Learning. It ends near the baseball fields and has already had an impact on how people experience Eagles baseball, Huebner said.

 

“It’s made a huge difference in how people watch the game, of where they park and how water drains off the hill and everything. It’s not just this part,” he said. “It connects the entire campus with a lighted sidewalk, which we did not have before. That’s important.”

 

Initially started in February 2022, the three-year project was funded through a grant from The Mississippi Department of Transportation covering up to $638,400, with MCC contributing a 20% match. Simmons, who represents the central transportation district, said projects like these are exactly the type of projects the three member Transportation Commission likes to see.

 

“At the Department of Transportation, we are in the business of improving safety. A lot of folks look at us and think of us as just building highways and bridges. We do that, and we think we do a great job of it,” he said. “But in addition to that, we do get into safety quite a bit. This project consists of sidewalk, fencing and lighting, so it’s going to add safety for all of the staff and all of the students here at Meridian Community College who will be walking and moving between these facilities.”

 

Also involved in the project was Engineering Plus, which served as the project engineer, Lauderdale County, the city of Meridian, Cullum Construction and many others, Huebner said, and thanks is owed to all of them for their efforts in bringing the project to fruition. While some may see it as just a sidewalk, he said, it is also an opportunity.

 

“It’s as important as any project we’ve ever done that I’ve ever participated in because it gives us an opportunity to think differently about our space and some of these themes have already been communicated, but from creating opportunities to exercise to providing a venue to fellowship, to enhancing the safety and security of our campus, to helping to address and contain issues associated with water runoff, to simply just making this side of the campus beautiful, this sidewalk is a game changer,” he said.

 

Kimberly Rush, associate dean of advising, retention and student success at MCC, who wrote the grant for the college, said the ADA-compliant sidewalk, lighting and other upgrades throughout the campus help students see that the college is invested in them.

 

“This and all the other renovations on campus are transformational and show the students that we want them here, and we are creating intentional spaces with them in mind,” she said.