AUBURN – A sidewalk along Park Avenue won’t be built until after the street itself is repaved, which won’t happen until at least next summer, according to city officials.

The city has applied for a $534,980 grant under the Safe Routes to School program to build a 5-foot wide sidewalk along Park Avenue from Court Street to Lake Street – about 3,500 feet.

The road-paving project is included on the state’s list of biennial road projects, said Assistant Public Works Director Sid Hazelton. He added that he did not know how high on the list it was.

“We don’t have a project designed yet, but we know the road has design challenges,” he said. The ground along Park Avenue is full of granite ledge that will make digging difficult.

“We don’t want to do that same work twice,” he said. “We’ll try to do all of it at the same time.”

When the work happens is up to city and state officials, Hazelton said.

Assistant City Manager Laurie Smith could not be reached for comment.

The sidewalk would connect Park and Lake streets to the new elementary school. Now, students who live east of Park Avenue can walk to the school up paths connecting to Orchard and Hillsdale streets. All students west of the Park are bused to the school.

The state is reviewing 41 applications from 33 municipalities, all under the Safe Routes to School grant. The state has $3 million earmarked for the grants, due to be spent through 2009.

The sidewalk grants were filed in August. They’ll be reviewed over the winter and should be awarded by February.