MEMPHIS - Memphis officials have approved funding for long-awaited improvements on Elvis Presley Boulevard.
The Memphis City Council approved $16 million in funding over the next two years for the updates, according to the Memphis Daily News. The first half of the funding will be available in 2013 and the rest in 2014.
The funding will be in addition to $27 million in state funding, though city engineer John Cameron said the Tennessee Department of Transportation hasn't approved a plan and is still taking input from the public.
Some 17 million visitors to Graceland and the Whitehaven community have traveled the boulevard over the last three decades.
Council member Harold Collins, whose district includes the boulevard, said last week that area residents have been more than patient for the improvements.
"The people in this district have been waiting over 35 years to get this redeveloped," said Collins, who has complained that funding has been shifted as newer projects got preference.