Picture yourself driving down College Drive with an unobstructed view of the stately entrance to Limestone College.

County officials are trying to bring that picture into focus, but the state Department of Transportation (DOT) isn’t cooperating.

The College Drive enhancement project was expected to begin this summer, but a brush with the Department of Transportation bureaucracy is holding the project up.

County officials have obtained the permits and have been ready to bid the project for months, but the county is awaiting approval from the DOT. More specifically, the DOT bicycle and pedestrian engineer who wants the county to acquire rights-of-way for future sidewalk construction.

Cherokee County Assistant Administrator Holland Belue said the county believes that request is independent of the project’s scope.

“We are trying to get the focus on the approval and not on future development,” Belue said.

To achieve that, Belue said he’s been working on a compromise with local and district DOT officials.

If and when the DOT gives its approval, Belue said the project can be completed within a few weeks.

The approximate $150,000 enhancement project would correct the drainage problems at College Drive and Griffin Street. Plans also call for stamped asphalt to be poured to match the brickwork of the column entrance to the college. The textured surface also serves as a traffic control measure, Belue said.

The crepe myrtles on the median from Griffin Street to Escambia Drive will be removed and replaced by a lower-growing shrub to give an unobstructed view of the college.

Councilman Quay Little agreed to use his gravel funds as the county’s matching portion of the enhancement grant.