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Ashland will keep more walkers out of street Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Annie Brault walks home along Tolman Creek Road in Ashland Wednesday after teaching at Bellview Elementary School. The city is considering forming a local improvement district to add sidewalks and other improvements along the road. Helman School area will get sidewalks, which are also in the works for part of Tolman Creek Road By TONY BOOM ASHLAND - Sidewalks in one elementary school neighborhood should be under construction by November, while planning for a project to add sidewalks near another school will begin next month also. The City Council voted Tuesday to form a local improvement district to provide a sidewalk along the west side of Helman Street to serve the Helman Elementary School neighborhood. It also learned about design efforts for sidewalks and other improvements along Tolman Creek Road near Bellview Elementary School. The city will consider a local improvement district there as well. "We are always working on safety. I see (the kids) coming and going," said Helman Principal Barbara Fields. "Some middle school kids even walk out in the street." Fields attended neighborhood meetings where support for the project, which will cost Helman Street residents $543 per lot, was 100 percent, she said. "Most of the people who live on the streets had kids in school and are now older," said Fields. "They are in support of having a safe way for children to come to and from school." The project will pay to build a sidewalk along the west side of Helman from Nevada Street to Van Ness Avenue. Portions of sidewalks on the east side will be connected in some places. Four concrete crosswalks and landscaping will be installed on the street. Work on the $153,265 project will start in November and should be complete in the spring. The city will pay for $109,084 of the costs, and property owners will pick up the rest of the bill. The $1.7 million Tolman project will run 1.3 miles from Siskiyou Boulevard to East Main Street. Projections show construction expenditures of $450,000, $550,000 and $525,600 in succeeding years. If a local improvement district were formed, the city probably would pay about 75 percent of project costs, and residents would pay the rest. "Tolman is an awfully busy street. It's a connecting street between Siskiyou and Ashland Street," said Bellview Principal Juanita Fagan. "Staff who live nearby have voiced concerns. They don't even like walking to school." Only one child has been hurt on the street in 25 years, according to Dennis DeBey, owner of Ashland Forge across from the school. The child ran into the street, was hit by a car and suffered a broken arm, he said. Sidewalks on both sides, storm drains, curbs, gutters and pedestrian safety items will be considered. Open drainage ditches lie beside much of the street. A sidewalk runs from Ashland Street to East Main on Tolman's west side. A few sections of sidewalk exist by new developments on the east side of Tolman near the school. Actual work is unlikely to begin in the current fiscal year, Brown said. The design process will assess priorities for project elements, but the City Council will select the final priorities. Reach Ashland bureau reporter Tony Boom at 482-4651, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.