EASTHAMPTON —The city is making a concerted effort to create a safer walk to Mountain View School with new access ramps and sidewalks along South Street.
Crews from Warner Brothers of Sunderland, who have been contracted by the city, have been installing accessible ramps at the intersection of South and John streets that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The project is part of a larger effort by the city’s Department of Public Works to improve pedestrian access by creating sidewalks on South Street from the Main Street intersection to the Manhan Rail Trail.
“There were no defined sidewalks here (on South Street),” said DPW Director Greg Nuttelman. “Every single one of the intersections between here and the rail trail, there are no ramps. It’s just hard curbing.”
Nuttleman said the DPW received a handful of requests to get wheelchair ramp access to the Manhan Rail Trail or even to be able to use the sidewalks, so people are not using the street. He estimated the roads around the intersection of South Street and Ely Avenue to be built between the 1950s and 1960s.
“It goes from road to curb,” he said. “This is just the way they used to build streets.”
By installing the sidewalks and ramps, those that use a wheelchair will be able to travel from down the street toward the Manhan Rail Trail without having to shift into the road.
The extended South Street sidewalk project began as an offshoot from Easthampton’s 2020 Shared Streets and Spaces grant program from the state Department of Transportation, according to City Planner Jeff Bagg. That project was $160,000 for the crosswalk and rectangular rapid-flashing beacon on Williston Avenue and on Pleasant Street, and included the paved path from the high school to Nonotuck Park as well as the temporary bike lane, he added.
Once the project was completed, Bagg said the city had $28,000 left over. In the summer of 2021, the city departments began discussing using these funds for South Street.
Bagg explained that because the property owner of College Highway Variety was agreeable to work with, the city took an easement from the owner in November 2021 that went toward the pedestrian improvements.
The Main Street project was almost entirely funded by the state’s Chapter 90 program and a relatively small appropriation from the city’s cannabis stabilization account, and a small amount from the state’s Shared Streets and Spaces grant program, said Bagg. When combined, the city was able to enhance pedestrian safety at the intersection of South and Main streets by adding the sidewalk next to the store.
The funding also allowed the city to install rectangular rapid-flashing beacons, which were not part of the original Main Street project.
With the remainder of the cannabis appropriation – $120,000 – Nuttelman was able to extend the sidewalk work all the way to the Manhan Rail Trail.
“On Main Street, all the ramps are done and the worst sections of sidewalk have been addressed. It would have been nice to do more new sidewalks there, but it’s passable and there are ramps,” said Nuttelman. “This was the most beneficial use out of the dollars.”
South Street, on the other hand, is barely passable and there are no ramps, he added.
“Taken together, this demonstrates our concerted efforts to stack funding sources and maximize the efficiency of having a contractor working in the area,” said Bagg. “The South Street sidewalk system will be a main pedestrian route to the new school and the timing will allow part of the route to be upgraded when the school is fully operational in the fall.”
Emily Thurlow can be reached at ethurlow@gazettenet.com.
