First, federal and state grants are a fabulous way to get the funding needed to undertake difficult projects that have been postponed for too long. But it doesn’t always make sense to tailor projects or make local plans around the demands of a specific grant.
Secondly, if the goal is to get schoolchildren away from heavy trucks, one of the first things that might make sense is to get the town garage and associated traffic off of the road leading to the school. There is plenty of room along the right of way of that road for a sidewalk.
If the goal is to get schoolchildren off Brook Road, Flat Iron Road, Main Street and School Road it might make more sense for the town to let the legal process it is pursuing regarding a privately owned (or not) path, leading from Brook Road to the school, play out.
There is a path that runs across Sue Carter’s property – access to which is in legal dispute. Regardless of whether this is considered a usurpation of private property or the rightful assertion of historic and municipal use, it makes sense to let this play out before building sidewalks up Brook Road and up School Road.
And if – in the end – sidewalks are to be built, let’s try to temper the collective gasp that was heard in Warren this week. Constructing sidewalks along those roads in the town’s legal right of way will absolutely narrow the travel lanes. There’s only so much space between the non-existent ditches.
But that doesn’t mean the end of the world as we know it. Generally traffic engineers and traffic planners conclude that a narrower road results in people driving slower. Traffic calming measures call for visual cues to slow down, using canopy trees or other devices to visually signal that there is less space and hence a need to reduce speed.
Warren has a legitimate need for sidewalks. Kids should be able to get to school without walking up the side of Brook Road and village residents should be able to get to The Warren Store or post office without risking life and limb. It’s just a question of whose ox is going to get gored.
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