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Liberty Township unveils new sidewalk
By SARAH LEHR
LIBERTY
Township officials hope a new sidewalk along Church Hill-Hubbard Road will encourage healthy living and make walking safer.
Trustee Jodi Stoyak, who cut the ribbon at a ceremonial unveiling of the sidewalk Wednesday afternoon, said, “It will provide the children with an easy way to walk or ride their bicycles to school. Lack of exercise is a big problem in America today.”
A total of $300,000 worth of grant money from the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School Program paid for the sidewalk.
The new sidewalk runs east from the Liberty public library at 415 Church Hill-Hubbard Road to Fifth Avenue Extension. It connects with a sidewalk and then continues to the township administration building at 1315 Church Hill-Hubbard Road.
The sidewalk runs only along the north side of the street. Additionally, the township will install a crosswalk with a walk signal in front of the library within the next few weeks.
The township hopes to receive additional funding to pay for another sidewalk extending from Sampson Road to state Route 304 so the entire township school property will be surrounded by sidewalks.
The township installed a sidewalk in front of E.J. Blott Elementary School on Shady Road in 2012.