St. Joseph Township is looking to make M-63 between Hilltop Road and Lincoln Avenue safer for pedestrians by pursuing a new non-motorized walkway.
The township board this week voted to apply for a federal grant through U.S. Senator Gary Peters’ office to help build the pathway.
Abonmarche helped the township design a concept for the path last year, and the company’s Corey Kandow tells us the plan is for a ten-foot pedestrian path along the west side of the road between a township trail behind the ACE Hardware and Hilltop Road. That’s a dangerous stretch of road for pedestrians to walk, and the township has had its share of accidents there in years past.
Kandow says the trail will require an elevated boardwalk and the regrading of existing slopes as it passes through a marshy area. The walkway would extend from Hilltop down to Knauf Trail.
The township is seeking about $2.2 million in federal funds through a Congressionally Directed Spending opportunity it was notified about recently. The required local match for the project would be about $562,000.
