The Town of Huntsville and Trinity United Church have come up with an agreement that will enable the municipality to use a portion of land owned by the church in order to build an accessible pedestrian ramp from High Street to Main Street.
The land in question is located on the east side of 33 Main Street East and would facilitate a pedestrian walkway at an estimated cost of $154,380. The project would be funded through the Main Street reconstruction budget, council heard at its September 28, 2020 meeting.
Steve Hernen, municipal director of operations and protective services, told council that the church approached the Town early in the Main Street reconstruction process and asked if the municipality would be interested in putting the ramp in. He noted that attempts to put the ramp in beside Town Hall in the past did not work because there wasn’t enough land.
It was the church that offered their land towards the project, which would provide accessible pedestrian passage from the parking lot the municipality purchased behind Town Hall to Huntsville’s Main Street.
Hernen said the engineering firm working on the Main Street redesign was asked to look at the creation of a pedestrian ramp, and it fits in that location. “It does have several bends in it to give us the proper grades that we need. It does have the landing, so it meets all the accessibility standards,” he added.
Hernen told council the ramp would be added to the Main Street redesign project. He also said the mature tree in front, the one he’s received inquiries about, will be saved and the project would add a nice overall landscape feature to that side of Main Street “very similar to the one we’re going to see on King Street leading down to River Mill Park, but it would be on the opposite side and it would bring the pedestrian, if you will, foot traffic from behind the Town Hall, High Street area, the back street parking, and enter down to Main Street.”
Councillors welcomed the project which was also to be forwarded to the Town’s accessibility committee for comment.
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2 Thumbs Up. We need to find ways to get along in this world.
Thanks Trinity !
This is fantastic news indeed! It’s terrific to see the Church/Town be proactive with respect to accessibility; rather than reacting to a suggestion from the AAC. Unfortunately, I cannot read the grades on the curved sections: Are they all the same? What are the dimensions of the landings, and are any pedestrian railings included anywhere?
Again, terrific to see our town devoting this considerable sum to accessibility. Kudos to all involved!