Walking path again proposed along County Road KB
Thursday, October 26, 2017 Jesse Horne | WEAU
ALTOONA, Wis. (WEAU) -- It's become a popular way to come in and out of Altoona - County Road KB, which becomes Bartlett Ave. However, some parents of students there don't think it's a safe route.
"I drive on that road every single day," Jessica Lacey, the treasurer of the Altoona Elementary PTO and mother of two students there, said to WEAU 13 News on Thursday. "I've seen cars flipped over on the side of the road in the winter time you see accidents all the time and it is not safe for anyone to walk on especially the kids."
When the Altoona school district chose to build its new elementary school along the road, close to 300 people signed a petition for the city council, addressing the need to add a safe way to walk along the road.
"Since then it's been deliberated in terms of its feasibility and how in from an engineering perspective but also how it would be paid for," Altoona City Administrator Mike Golat said to WEAU 13 News on Thursday.
Now, the Altoona City Council has been trying to decide if to build - and how to pay for - the $2 million project.
Five options for modifications to County Road KB have been presented, which include things like a walking path or sidewalk and even a bike path. Golat said discussion has including the potential for Tax Incremental District being used for the project. The final decision on the project will be when the city council gives consideration to passing the budget at the end of November.
"So, until that time, there are still issues that can be discussed and we just are trying to keep pushing it forward to make sure that we can come to an informed decision," Golat said. "Children's safety and trails and just the way this project evolved, given that we didn't have all the technical answers from the beginning, it's just the way these kinds of projects go."
While discussion over having a bike path or sidewalk put along County Road KB has been in place since the school opened up last year, Lacey said the time to do it is now before it's too late.
"I just really hope that it doesn't take either a child or a parent getting hurt on that road for them to actually do something about it," she said. Read more about this article »
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