MOUNT VERNON — Just a month ago, a proposed project that would increase the safety of children walking to Memorial Park and the Mount Vernon High School/middle school campus was potentially two years away waiting for the nearly $500,000 needed for funding. At the conclusion of Monday night’s Mount Vernon City Council meeting, Mayor Richard Mavis announced a grant from Ariel Foundation will cover the construction cost of the project.
“We will now be able to fund this project without matching funds,” Mavis said.
The project will construct a sidewalk along Gambier Street/Ohio 229 from Quarry Street to Edgewood Road to Mount Vernon Avenue and to South Division Street to Yellow Jacket Drive. In addition, a traffic light will be placed at the intersection of South Division and Mount Vernon Avenue. Crosswalks will be positioned from Memorial Park to the high school softball field, at the Kokosing Gap Trail, at Claypool Drive and at the new traffic light.
Cameron Keaton, city engineer, estimates the construction of the project will cost about $495,000.
