Mayfield to use nearly $400,000 for new sidewalks for elementary students

Elementary school students in Mayfield could have a smoother walk home in the next school year.

The borough received $388,114 in federal funding to install new sidewalks along a corridor frequently used by Lakeland Elementary Mayfield Campus students to walk to and from their homes near the school at 501 Linden St.

Funded by the federal Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside Program, the money will pay for new sidewalks extending from the elementary school to the intersection of Linden Street and Lackawanna Avenue, then along Lackawanna Avenue to the intersection of Chestnut Street, and finally up Chestnut Street until it intersects Hill Street, said council Vice President Wendy Bochnovich, who spearheaded the grant. The project will also include painting new crosswalk lines, Bochnovich said.

The sidewalks, and especially the curbs, degraded over the years, she said.

“They’re crumbling in many areas, and they’re just plain nonexistent in some areas,” Bochnovich said.

It’s not a good situation, she said.

Bochnovich wants to move forward with construction as soon as possible.

To cut down on costs, the borough will only put in new sidewalks on one side of each street, Bochnovich said, explaining the sidewalks’ positioning corresponds with where the Lakeland School District places its crossing guards.

“If we’re talking about needing sidewalks … that whole side of town has to walk to school because there’s no bus transportation for the elementary school,” Bochnovich said.

While some of the sidewalks are still in decent shape, they will replace all of the sidewalks for consistency, she said.

Lakeland Superintendent Marc Wyandt, Ed.D., said students living within approximately one mile of the school are not offered transportation, so the district has a lot of foot traffic in and around its Mayfield campus. The current sidewalks aren’t ideal to handle the foot traffic around arrival and dismissal time, he said.

“Anything that increases the safety is a huge positive,” he said.

The district also uses crossing guards and staggered dismissal times to ensure students and their families are safe walking from school, Wyandt said.

Mayor Al Chelik said the borough has never put in sidewalks along the route before — they were installed by either Lackawanna County or property owners.

“This is really a big safety project that was approved,” Chelik said, crediting Bochnovich for giving a detailed presentation on the project at the Lackawanna County 911 Center to help secure the funding.

The sidewalks will be a major improvement, especially for wheelchair accessibility, Chelik said.

Bochnovich pointed out the sidewalks will tie into Lackawanna County’s previously installed wheelchair-accessible sidewalks and curbs at Lackawanna Avenue and Chestnut Street.

Beyond just benefitting school students, Bochnovich noted that there’s a bus stop nearby, and she expects people using an upcoming section of Lackawanna River Heritage Trail in Mayfield to also benefit from the sidewalks.

She hopes to install the new sidewalks in time for the new school year.

“When the end of the summer comes, they’ll have a nice, new path to school with all fresh sidewalks,” Bochnovich said.