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LANETT — Mayor Kyle McCoy said that some substantial progress has been made this year on the downtown streetscape project and the airport expansion and is hopeful both projects can be closed out before the end of the current calendar year.

The two local cable companies, Carter Spectrum and WOW!, have just about completed moving their lines from the smaller wooden poles to around a dozen taller metal poles that have gone in on North Lanier Avenue. Once all that work is complete, North Lanier will be resurfaced from Cherry Drive to the triangle. That’s welcome news to anyone who drives that street a lot.

“We want to close out on what we have been doing on North Lanier Avenue and First Street in September,” McCoy said.

Next year, the city plans to do much more work along First Street, extending the streetscape look from Highway 29 to Eighth Avenue near Veterans Park and W.O. Lance Elementary School. An early stage of that project has taken place from the First Christian Church to the Lanett Housing Authority office.

“We are hoping to have the airport reopened by December 1st,” the mayor said. “When it is open again, it will mean a lot for our entire area.”

This summer, a lot of rain has slowed laying down the asphalt, but that could be completed over the next couple of weeks, provided we get our share of sunny days. The new layer of asphalt will have to cure for 30 days before it’s grooved.

Grooving a runway provides channels for rainwater to escape. This helps eliminate standing water while restoring friction coefficients to wet pavement. The grooves are usually cut in a transverse direction from where the planes will be landing. They are usually continuous along the entire length of the runway.

The new airport will have a much longer runway than the old one did. The previous runway was a little over 3,100 feet. An entirely new one will be more than 5,400 feet. The fact it’s over one mile in length strengthens the opportunity for the FAA to list it as a regional airport.

The city is planning on having a big start of summer/end of summer fireworks show on Saturday, Sept. 4th. It will get underway when the sky is completely dark.

“We had planned to have it on June 19 to celebrate Juneteenth, but it rained that day,” McCoy said. “We are hoping for better weather for Labor Day weekend. We will be doing it over the mill site again. If you prefer, you can watch it from your cars or have some lawn chairs across the road from the mill site. Some people will be watching from the Lanett Methodist Church. It’s on a hill and offers good viewing. I’ve been told that the river is another good site to see it from. Some people could be out in boats or kayaks watching it that night.”

Those who were in attendance at Friday’s Lanett High football game got a preview of what’s ahead. The Panthers’ 54-7 win over Georgiana was the 100th in Coach Clifford Story’s career at Lanett High. It was celebrated with a post-game fireworks show