Monterey Looks To Add Sidewalks At Burkes Elementary

Monterey is looking to add and repair sidewalks around town.

Mayor Bill Wiggins said a priority area would be Burkes Elementary School.

“There’s not a sidewalk anywhere off that campus and those kids have to walk down streets,” Wiggins said. “I want to proceed with a study for the sidewalk needs in Monterey and work with all of our partners to get this done.”

Wiggins said potential funding routes would include a Rural Planning Organization grant or locating the money within the city budget.

Wiggins did say that the RPO process could take well over a year.

“The RPO addresses several cities and counties and it’s very competitive,” Wiggins said. “The RPO board has to approve which [projects] are forwarded to the state.”

Town grant writer Dawn Kupferer said the city would need to submit the sidewalk plans to the RPO board as soon as possible in order to get the project on the radar.

“We can justify sidewalks and boardwalks around the school because that road is used a lot for thru traffic going to Clarkrange,” Kupferer said. “It would be next year before we can get it on there and in the meantime, the city can start documenting accidents or incidents along Crossville Street.”

Kupferer said the RPO grants can go up to $1 million for larger cities.

“The sweet spot for a small community, you’re looking at $300,000 to $400,000,” Kupferer said.

Wiggins said the street committee would be discussing how to move forward with the sidewalk plans in the near future.

“The big picture is that throughout Monterey we need some sidewalk repair and we have several places where I think sidewalks need to be built,” Wiggins said. “The Burkes school would be a priority in the grand scheme of things.”

The town had spoke to TDOT several years ago about a project to add sidewalks at Burkes School, but the department declined to take on the project at that time.