Sidewalks make area safer

MILAN — Building sidewalks to completely surround a popular park where children often gather served as a front-and-center priority for local officials. On Wednesday, officeholders representing the governments of Milan and Erie County along with educators serving Edison Schools gathered for a dedication. It occurred atop the newly laid concrete at the A Field, short for athletic field, across from Edison Elementary. Among those in attendance: Milan councilwoman Erin McManus and her son, Milan, an Edison Elementary student, who got to cut the ceremonial ribbon. Work, completed by local laborers, involved building nearly 1,000 feet of sidewalk with a few handicap-compliant ramps to fully encompass this greenspace with a protected pathway. It started and finished earlier this month. "This project is a complete success because of everyone's input, ideas and, most importantly, your commitment to safety," said Milan village administrator Brian Rospert, who led this effort. Rospert answered some additional questions: • The location: "The sidewalk goes around the athletic field, across from (Edison) Elementary. It begins at the intersection of Oak Street and Main Street, heads west to the intersection of Huron Street and then travels northward to the Lockwood Road/Judson Street intersection." • The background: Here's an excerpt Rospert sent to county commissioners about this project's importance and desire for grant funding prior to construction happening: Each day, during normal school hours, in the mornings and after school, numerous parents are either dropping their children off at school or picking them up. In or around 2020, we upgraded the crosswalks on South Main Street with flashing crosswalk signs and repainted the crosswalks through a Safe Routes to School (state) grant. As the parents and children are going to the diagonal parking spaces on Oak Street, they must walk in the roadway to get to their vehicles. This causes a great safety concern during ideal conditions, however, if the weather is of any degrade, it causes an even greater concern when they must walk in the road to get their vehicles. We also experience this situation during the summer months when the ball fields are being used. Our proposal to remedy this safety issue would be to install a new 5-foot-wide sidewalk westerly down the northern portion of Oak Street and then to continue this sidewalk northerly up Huron Street to where it intersects with Judson Street in the village right-of-way. Note: Sidewalks did exist on South Main Street directly across from Edison Elementary. This project fully connects the existing sidewalks to areas where they previously didn't exist. • The upgrade: "There was never a sidewalk there in the past. This is all new construction." • The cost: The project totaled about $46,100. From this amount: — $29,600 came from the Erie County commissioners through a community investment grant — $16,500 came from the village through local funds • The people who benefit: "Students, parents, pedestrians and motorists who travel this area. There are a lot of individuals who walk around the park on a daily basis and prior to these improvements, they would all have to walk on the roadway."