St. John is looking to fill a gap in its network of multi-use paths. The town council Wednesday approved an engineering agreement for a new path along Joliet Street from 96th to Parrish.
Town Manager Bill Manousopoulos said it's been needed for a long time. "We've all seen the kids in the street riding their bikes, people jogging," Manousopoulos said. "So this is finally making room, especially with the growth of the town and how many cars are now on Joliet."
The path will be eight to ten feet wide and connect to existing sidewalks on either end.
First Group Engineering plans to design the path over the winter and bid it out in the spring, with construction to take place next year.
Still, the path will be missing some important sections. Evan Laviolette with First Group Engineering says the railroad crossings will take longer to build.
"The railroad timeline can be anywhere from like one to five years," Laviolette told council members. "We have to deal with two different railroad right of ways, so it kind of depends on what their availability is to design or if they tell us to go find somebody pre-qualified to get that design in."
The engineering agreement calls for a cost not to exceed $404,500.
