In October, the Village of Johnson will be upgrading the sidewalk network along School Street and College Hill Road. This construction will impact travelers along both roads, predominantly in the vicinity of Johnson Elementary School.

“On behalf of the Village and the Town of Johnson, I am very glad that we are able to make yet another improvement to our pedestrian and roadway infrastructure,” said Lea Kilvadyova, community & economic development coordinator. “Our downtown is a compact, walk-able community, and that is an attribute appreciated by many people both from our community and beyond.”

On School Street, the Village will rebuild the JES student drop off area and build a new sidewalk along the playground fence. This sidewalk will lead to the intersection of School St and College Hill Rd and then wrap around the playground fence, to connect with the existing sidewalk further up College Hill Road. In connecting those sidewalks, the village will also be restriping the crosswalks that it would link with.

Another short sidewalk section will be rebuilt on the opposite side of School Street, replacing old asphalt with a new concrete sidewalk, and will have a curb extension to narrow the roadway, increasing visibility for pedestrians crossing School Street. The new curb extension will be tied to a new crosswalk, which will be located a little closer to the School St/College Hill Rd intersection then the current crossing, and the current crosswalk will be removed.

After contract bids, the Village of Johnson hired Desroches Construction Services of Jeffersonville to build the project. The contractor will prepare for the job during the last week of September, and the job is planned to span the entire month of October, though there are many factors that can influence the schedule.

Following the sidewalk construction, the Town of Johnson plans to repave the roads along School Street and College Hill either this fall, or in the spring of 2016, depending on the weather. If there is a nice and warm enough stretch of weather this November, the Town would like to pave then.

The projects the village is about to undertake are possible, in part, because of grants and appropriations from the Vermont Agency of Transportation as well as matching contributions from both the Town and the Village.

The entire sidewalk project, including adding light bases for future lighting, better drainage and road striping is estimated to cost $281,604. This estimate doesn’t include the future paving as that bid has yet to go out to contractors.

If you have questions about the project, please call or email Kilvadyova, at [email protected] or the town offices at 635-2611.