Safe routes project to change

Mayor plans to drop Washington Street from list to make room for unexpected costs

As the deadline for stategranted funding through the Ohio Department of Transportation quickly approaches, Amherst Mayor Mark Costilow brought the Safe Routes to School sidewalk project to city council for further review during a Feb. 18 meeting. Costilow said the city has worked with an engineer, St. Joseph Parish School and the Amherst Exempted Villages Schools district to develop the application that will be seeing further revision this week before being brought to committee next week. “I would like to go about this very similar as we did with our other sidewalk programs where engineering, construction oversight and surveying, things like that would be at the city’s cost,” he said during the meeting, adding the grant limit is $400,000 on any given submitted project. “That way we can go over and get as many construction dollars as possible from the grant.”

As of Feb. 18, the project included Sipple Avenue, Sunrise Drive, Lincoln Street and Washington Street for sidewalk construction. However, upon receiving advice from a representative of the Ohio Department of Transportation, Costilow said he plans for the application to remove Washington Street from the project to make way for more funding allocated for contingency costs.

— Councilman Chuck Winiarski

“There were some things that we think we have a plan for and I don’t think will cost more, but ODOT would like us to put those items in there,” he said. Costilow said the revised application is projected to leave 10 percent of the funds for contingency on actual construction, including any additional work that needed to be done on driveways or removal of trees. If the application is approved by council, the city should hear back about the status of the application by April, he said. The funds would then be granted to the city in either 2021 or 2022. The concrete sidewalks, once completed, would be the responsibility of the residents to maintain, Costilow said. Councilman Chuck Winiarski said he recently spoke to residents who were most concerned about sidewalk construction on Sunset Drive, since most water drainage travels through ditches along the street. Costilow said the contingency money from the grant would be used to adjust the ditches if need be. “There’s gonna be a few that don’t like it, there’s gonna be a few people that like it,” Costilow said. “I mean, this is one of those things that you’re not going to please everybody, but I think for the safety of our kids and our walking public, this is much needed.” Winiarski said with the heavy traffic that Sunset Drive sees, especially during baseball season, the sidewalks are a must. “People forget it’s so busy,” he said. “There’s a lot of benefits to having the sidewalks if you have them here. I think this is fantastic.”

“People forget it’s so busy. There’s a lot of benefits to having the sidewalks if you have them here. I think this is fantastic.”