ODOT rejects request for Poland path funds

Campbell received a $183,500 grant for a
sidewalk along Struthers-Liberty Road.

By DENISE DICK

VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER

POLAND — Don’t lace up those walking shoes yet. The township’s hopes for a grant to fund a path linking it to the village came up short again.

For years, township officials have discussed a sidewalk along state Route 170 between the two entities. Last year, they applied for a $250,000 Safe Routes to Schools grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation.

Trustees learned this week that the application was rejected.

Campbell was the only Mahoning Valley community awarded one of the grants. That city received $183,500 for sidewalks, according to the ODOT’s Safe Routes to Schools Web site.

Campbell Mayor Jack Dill said the grant will cover the entire project amount for a sidewalk to run along Struthers-Liberty Road between Robinson and Sanderson Avenues near Campbell Middle School.

Dill expects a meeting between the city and state officials within the next several weeks to discuss details including a project timeline.

ODOT didn’t provide explanation for why the township’s application was rejected.

“We didn’t meet all of the criteria,” said Jim Scharville, township administrator.

The program did offer the township $24,000 toward an engineering study for the project.

Mark Naples, trustee chairman, said the township has been trying to make the path a reality for about 10 years.

If the Safe Routes to School grant program continues without a local match requirement, he expects the township will try for it again. But trustees haven’t taken action to move forward with an engineering study for the project.

The Safe Routes to Schools program calls for federal funds through fiscal year 2009 for projects that improve primary and middle school pupils’ ability to walk and bicycle to school safely, according to a Federal Highway Administration Web site about the program.

It was authorized in August 2005 federal transportation reauthorization legislation. The money comes from gas tax revenue.

The proposed 1.2-mile path would run from the village corporation limits to Dobbins Road. Both Dobbins Elementary and Poland Seminary High schools sit near the Dobbins-Route 170 corner with both McKinley Elementary and the middle school not far from the village limits.

The project is estimated at $400,000 but $250,000 was the maximum available through the grant program. Trustees had talked about doing the project in stages if the grant had been awarded.

The township also has about $90,000 set aside for the project. In 2006, the township turned down another grant to fund the project because of concerns that the funds earmarked wouldn’t cover the whole local match required.

Safe Routes to School is a federal highway administration program administered through ODOT.

Both the village and school board also supported the sidewalk plan.