THOMASVILLE, Ga. — Knowing Remington Avenue suffers from traffic ills, among other situations, City of Thomasville officials decided to look to public involvement to address problems.

City planner Kenny Thompson pointed out the importance of public input on the West Jackson Street streetscape plan and said the same process would be taken with Remington talks and plans.

Steps in the Remington process would involve listening to public input, analyzing a design and reviewing and refining a plan.

“That is as far as we got on it,” Thompson told city council members at a Wednesday council workshop.

The project would include work from the Remington city limits to Kern Street and to Smith Avenue as one continuous corridor.

To be taken into consideration are rights-of-way widths, traffic counts and vehicular crash data.

Thompson said a “discovery walk” along the improvement path will give the public an opportunity to witness issues firsthand.

Pedestrian access would be assessed along the way, Thompson said.

A public listening session for feedback would be scheduled, followed by a draft for the public to see, and later a final design.

Thompson pointed out that Kern has no sidewalks between Smith and Reid Street and narrows from four lanes to two on Remington, which has steep drainage ditches.

To widen rights-of-way in some areas would allow for turn lanes, Thompson said, adding that resurfacing, a nature trail, trees, bike lanes and storm water management also would be part of the plan.

“The ultimate goal we’re looking at is creating a better street,” Thompson told the council.

Some $2.7 million from the 2018 special purpose local option sales tax is earmarked for the project.

Public input would take place until May.

Thompson said a concept plan would be done during the summer, with some design steps on the fall.

Construction, he said, would begin in early 2020, with completion in about 10 months.