This is the current plan for a complete sidewalk on Mill-Cleveland streets that would provide convenient pedestrian access to the schools for students that live in the North Street and Falls Road areas of town.
Currently, these students have to walk away from the schools in to town to cross the river before traveling west on Bell or Washington to the schools. If there were safe sidewalks near the bridge on Cleveland Street, students would have a safe and direct walking route to school. This pedestrian route would also offer easy access to the public library from the schools in the afternoons.
This costs for this project will be divided between Safe Routes and the future Spillway development. As part of the original development plan for Spillway, the developers agreed to build a boardwalk style sidewalk along the Mill Street section of the route (section A). Safe Routes will provide the funding to add sidewalk sections from the Cleveland Street bridge to Bell Street on the west side of the street (section B and C). Between Bell and Washington Street, Cleveland Street sidewalks will be completed on the east side of the street (section D). The intersection at Bell and Cleveland Street may have an improved crosswalk as well. Work on the Safe Routes sections (B,C, and D) was delayed in summer 2012; construction will proceed when plans for the Mill Street bridge section are completed.
