Photo provided: Officials in New Palestine added some new sidewalks along Bittner Road.
NEW PALESTINE — Officials with the Town of New Palestine are always looking for ways to find safe passages for walkers and bike riders who like to venture into the town.
The town’s Redevelopment Commission (RDC) recently approved funding to add some new sidewalks along Bittner Road from the Seifert Creek subdivision to the The Preserve at Sugar Creek — about 800 feet.
The sidewalks were recently poured and are 5 feet wide making for plenty of room for safe passage, something town officials say they have needed there due to the fact there is so much more traffic on Bittner Road than there ever used to be.
“I’ve wheeled that passage a couple of times with contractors trying to see what we could do there, and I can tell you that road really is not safe when you’re walking on that edge,” New Palestine town manager Jim Robinson said. “This will be a good project.”
Robinson pushed to get the project done before the school year started this week, noting Bittner Road becomes super busy once school is in session.
The town had three bids ranging from a low of $30,000 to high price of $80,000 to get the sidewalks installed. The RDC approved a bid of $30,400 to get the project done at their most recent meeting.
“There certainly is a wide range of pricing,” RDC member and town council vice president Bill Niemier said prior to the group selecting a bid.
The town has been talking about using money from the RDC to pay for the project, but Niemier had suggested in an earlier meetings that perhaps the town’s council could chip in and approve some of the funding. However, that idea was nixed when town officials released that the RDC was going to get some more TIF monies before the end of the year, giving them plenty of funding to add the much needed sidewalks.
The RDC fund had around $70,000 prior to the project, officials said, and that balance was expected to double by the end of the year, meaning there was plenty of money without the town’s help to pay for the new sidewalks.
“Based on that, I’m perfectly fine with the RDC paying for the sidewalks 100%,” Niemier said.
The only issue town officials found associated with the project was brought forth by RDC member and council member Ethan Maple, who feared the area was already so tight that some trees might have to come out to make room for the sidewalks.
Maple noted tree removal should be considered as part of the cost for adding the sidewalks as he feared the area had too many of them and was too tight to add 5-foot sidewalks.
“I just want to make sure we get what we want from ‘A’ to ‘B’,” Maple said.
“If one tree has to go to save everyone on a bicycle, or skateboard or walking, that’s OK,” Niemier said. “Sidewalks, you can never have too many of them. I dream of the day someone can walk from Bittner Road all the way to the Wellness Center on a sidewalk, especially west of McDonald’s.”
Niemier noted walkers or bike riders are in danger along US 52 once they pass the McDonald’s area heading west, and he hoped with the funds in the RDC increasing perhaps they can soon tackle that passage issue and even get the Indiana Department of Transportation involved since US 52 is a state road.
