The Pelham City Council moved another step closer to making the city conducive for pedestrians as it unanimously approved a resolution April 5 that will pave the way for more city sidewalks.

The resolution will allow Mayor Don Murphy to enter into an agreement with Gallet & Associates Inc., for professional engineering services and consultation in an amount not to exceed $27,557.60 for a sidewalk on Ball Park Road.

The project is part of an Alabama Department of Transportation grant that will pay 100 percent of the costs.

“This will come at no cost for the city,” said council member Karyl Rice.

“It was kind of a use or lose it,” added council member Steve Powell.

The project is part of a plan to make the city more easily accessible from all points.

Murphy said once the project is presented to ALDOT for approval, it would go out to bid. From there, he hopes it will be completed by the end of June.

“This will open up a lot of stuff to the people,” Murphy said. “Right now, we’re a suburban city. You drive everywhere you need to go.”

While the Ball Park Road project will help complement the sidewalks the city already had put in along Alabama 119, Murphy said he hopes to have even more sidewalks from Pelham High School to Bearden Road and from the Cross Creek subdivision to Bearden Road in a couple of years.

In addition to making residents safer, Murphy said more sidewalks would also give the people an easier way to get from one end of the sprawling city to the other.

“It would make a complete circuit and help make us a complete city,” Murphy said.