BETHEL – Selectmen will support the Bethel Area Trails committee in pursuing a grant to help pay for sidewalks to be built from the Crescent Park Elementary School to Mason Street.
Barb Russell of the trails committee told selectmen meeting Monday that she and other committee members met with the Maine Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School coordinator last week. Committee members had hoped to improve trails and sidewalks from Davis Park to Telstar High School, but were told that the area was not a good candidate for the program.
MDOT representatives instead encouraged the group to submit a grant application for the Crescent Park School area. Russell said that if the committee is awarded the grant, the town would have to decide on the best places for crosswalks and which side of the road the sidewalk should be constructed on.
Selectman Jack Cross said that both sides of Mason Street, which runs from Crescent Street to Broad Street, are lined with trees, making the decision a difficult one.
Russell said Safe Routes to School is a federally assisted grant program. Nationally, $612 million is available. Grants are based on elementary and high school enrollment, so Bethel would be awarded about $1 million if it received a grant.
“I’m sure there’s going to be a lot of competition for this grant,” she added.
The trails committee has not researched what the project might cost, but thinks that it’s “very doable,” Russell said. The state encourages towns to match grant funds but does not require it. The town would, however, be responsible for administering the project and performing maintenance when needed on the sidewalks.
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