LANETT — Demolition work is under way on the historic downtown triangle in Lanett. A mini excavator has been on the site removing the brick structure as part of a downtown improvement project.

The structure that’s being removed is going to be replaced by a newer, longer triangle. It will be in two parts with a new fountain being on the base end and the “Bluffton-Lanett” historical marker being on the tip end. There will be a turn lane between the two portions.

With much of the work now completed in the first portion of the streetscape project, a lot of work will now be going on in the downtown area. In recent weeks, old sidewalks have come out and new ones put in on the portion of North Lanier Avenue near city hall.  There’s still work to do in this area, but once it’s completed, the focus will turn to downtown.

The area around the triangle will be getting new sidewalks, crosswalks, planters and the decorative black lamp posts. There will be an extraordinary difference once the work has been completed. The crosswalks will look really nice. They will be made of concrete that’s stamped red to resemble brick.

Fairhope, Ala. is widely considered one of the prettiest small towns in the South. Its former mayor, Tim Kant, is serving as a consultant on the Lanett project. Fairhope was a town in decline in the early 1980s when Kant and other city leaders devised a beautification plan to attract people downtown.

“Back then you could park anywhere,” he told The Times-News. “Now it’s hard to find parking places most of the time, and that’s not a bad problem to have.”