By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The Bowling Green Sidewalk Commission has been told to take a hike.
The commission has been asked over the next couple months to check out sidewalks in the city to identify cracked walkways that are tripping hazards and pooling areas that freeze into treacherous stretches of ice.
“Anyone who has walked in Bowling Green certainly knows there are challenges walking in Bowling Green,” said City Council member Bill Herald, who is chairperson of the sidewalk commission.
In the past, the city received Community Development Block Grants for sidewalk repairs and installations, explained BG Public Works Director Brian Craft.
“CDBG money went elsewhere,” Craft said. So now the city uses a 50/50 program which splits the costs of sidewalk repairs evenly between the landowner and the city. Sidewalks are the responsibility of residents, but the city has stepped up to share the costs, Craft said.
“We’ve gotten a lot of work done in these neighborhoods,” he said.
The city public works department does the work at a fraction of the cost of private contractors, Craft said.
“It’s really a golden opportunity,” Herald said. “Having new sidewalks really upgrade” an area and help with neighborhood revitalization, he added.
Craft suggested that the sidewalk commission help the city identify sections of sidewalks that are in great need of repair. Some walkways are hard to navigate because of uneven cracked areas. Others have grade problems that lead to pooling water and ice in the winter.
The city has started using a flexi-pave rubber surface in some areas that allows tree roots to grow without buckling sidewalks.
Craft explained to the commission that paving longer lengths of sidewalks is more cost effective than small sections.
“We really like doing long stretches of sidewalks, where sidewalks have been suffering,” he said.
Commission member Lori Young suggested that some smaller, very damaged areas of sidewalks also need repairs.
When the sidewalk commission first formed in the 1980s, the city did not have the in-house capability to do sidewalks. The commission initially focused on creating safe routes for children walking to school.
Now the group is looking at which sidewalks have the greatest needs for repair. The members will also help identify areas of the city without sidewalks that could benefit from them.
Craft gave the commission a list of potential projects to consider:
- West Wooster (south side only) from Grove to Eberly.
- Eberly (both sides) from Wooster to Pearl.
- South Church (both sides) from Pearl to Sand Ridge.
- South College (both sides) from Clough to Fifth Street.
- South College (both sides) from Fifth to Napoleon.
- South Prospect (both sides) from Clough to Lehman.
- South Summit (both sides) from Clough to Lehman.
- North Enterprise (both sides) from Pike to Ridge.
- North Enterprise (west side only) from Ridge to East Merry.
- East Reed, both sides from Main to Prospect, both sides for Prospect to Summit, and north side only from Summit to Enterprise. The south side is already complete.
- North Prospect, both sides from Ridge to Reed, west side from Reed to Frazee and Frazee to Poe. East side is already new walkway.
- Conneaut (pick a side) from Wintergarden to Mitchell. New walk to connect the Waterside Subdivision.
Herald talked about the need for a sidewalk/bike path out to the community center, and also to the Cogan’s Crossing housing development. He suggested that the commission request an engineering study on that project from the city.
But members Lori Young and Cynthia Phelps Whipple questioned if that should be a priority for the commission. No action was taken on the issue.
Members of the Sidewalk Commission are Bill Herald, Lori Young, Cynthia Phelps Whipple, Ryan Sanner, Dick Martin, Rick Beaverson and Lori Tretter.
