Atchison – The Atchison City Commission approved two Resolutions at their regular meeting on June 19th, both authorizing city staff to submit grant applications for two separate, but similar projects. Both projects will make application to the Kansas Department of Transportation seeking grant awards through the federal Transportation Alternatives Program.
The 2nd Street Corridor Project, which unsuccessfully sought funding through this program in a previous grant cycle, aims to improve sidewalks, wheelchair ramps, intersection crossings, and pedestrian lighting along 2nd Street from Commercial Street to Division Street. The $525,000 grant request would also seek to repair or replace the entire Amelia Earhart Historic District with fully restored brick sidewalks. The project is identified as a high priority in the City’s 2016 Comprehensive Plan to better connect the thriving campus of Benedictine College to downtown Atchison, which has seen exciting development with the new YMCA and Holiday Inn Express.
The Atchison Middle School Safe Routes to Schools Stage 1 Project, which is applying for funding for the first time, follows an extensive collaborative planning effort between several project partners, including the City of Atchison, USD 409, and Live Well Live Atchison, just to name a few. The stage 1 project seeks to make improvements to crosswalks surrounding Atchison Middle School, as well as sidewalks, wheelchair ramps, and intersection crossings along the 5th Street corridor in south Atchison, which was identified through the Safe Routes to Schools planning process as a critical pedestrian and bicycle access corridor to AMS and downtown Atchison.
Both Resolutions of support were unanimously approved by the City Commission. Grant award announcements from KDOT are not expected until November of 2017 with any awarded projects unlikely to begin construction until the fall of 2018 at the earliest.
To learn more about the Transportation Alternatives Program, contact Justin Pregont, Director of Public Works & Utilities at justinp@cityofatchison.com or 913-367-5561