Monterey Hoping To Link New Areas To Walking Trail

The town of Monterey has applied for a grant that could provide students a safer route to and from school.

The potential funding would help link Burks Elementary School and Monterey High School to the town’s new walking trail. Dawn Kupferer is the grant writer for the town of Monterey.

“The town of Monterey has been working very hard to provide connectivity throughout the whole community of Monterey,” Kupferer said. “This is just another component of linking everything, whether it’s the businesses, farmer’s market, residential areas, and the schools.”

The $256,000 Project Diabetes Grant would construct sidewalks, crosswalks, and a boardwalk to help get students off of Crossville Street.

Kupferer said the grant application will be submitted to the State Health Department.

“They will announce (recipients) in June and we can get started almost immediately because we already have the pre-planning documents and we’ve been working on this for almost 10 years,” Kupferer said. “This is part of that 19-mile corridor from Cookeville to Monterey and Monterey, every year for the last five years, has been building another section of trail in Monterey.”

Kupferer said Monterey has never benefited from the State Department of Health’s Project Diabetes Grant.