Discussion began in 2012,with the Ingham County Department of Roads and Transportation to incorporate pedestrian walkways along West Michigan Avenue to the Waverly East Intermediate School at the time of the road reconstruction. In 2013,Waverly Community Schools actively pursued a SRTS grant and has completed the first part of that process. Additionally, the project will involve a lane reduction to accommodate bike lanes, construction of sidewalks connecting residential neighborhoods to the school, installation of ADA compliant ramps and curb cuts. The construction project is expected to take place in 2014. A cost savings is expected when installing sidewalks during a construction project but is unknown that this time. The safety of the students attending Waverly East is top priority and far outweighs any projected cost savings.
The projected savings of this collaboration is approximately $250,000 or more.
Update 2014: Ingham County Department of Roads received Roads and Risks Reserve funding for the reconstruction of Michigan Avenue to take place in 2014. While we expect that Waverly Schools will receive the SRTS grant, the failure to receive the grant prior to commencement of construction would be a barrier to completing sidewalks as part of the construction project. At this time, there have been no other barriers.
Timeline: Anticipated completion of this project will be November, 2014 with pre-construction and construction meetings to begin in February, 2014.