Crystal Surdyk, city director of development, gave City Council members an overview over a grant award that the city has received to implement a creative crosswalk between Jamestown Prendergast Library and Dow Park to better ensure pedestrian safety. Pictured is Crystal Surdyk, city director of development. P-J photo by Timothy Frudd

A creative sidewalk on Sixth Street between the James Prendergast Library and Dow Park is being designed with grant money the city received through the Chautauqua County Partnership for Economic Growth.

Crystal Surdyk, city director of development, told City Council members that the James Prendergast Library reached out to the city last year about safety concerns with people crossing Sixth Street from the park to the library. A Complete Streets grant through the Chautauqua County Partnership for Economic Growth earlier this year provided the city with an opportunity to address the library’s concerns.

Surdyk told the City Council that the grant will help provide technical assistance from Go Bike Buffalo, which is a firm that specializes in Complete Streets implementation by helping communities design streets that are “pedestrian friendly,” safer, and more walkable for community residents. Surdyk added that she has prior experience with Go Bike Buffalo during her past service as a planner for the city.

“They will provide some technical assistance with regard to design of a crosswalk, and we’ll work with DPW, our department, the Department of Transportation and just ensure that we’re following federal highway standards and New York State DOT standards with regard to what a final design might be,” she said. “The idea is to create a creative crosswalk that visually will slow traffic down to make the crossing by the library safer for pedestrians; more to come on that. There will be community involvement as far as the design process goes and when Go Bike comes into town to kind of help facilitate that.”

Surdyk explained that during the community involvement portion of the design process, people will be able to provide input regarding what kind of creative crosswalk they would like to see added near the library. However, she emphasized the importance of the city following state and federal safety standards to ensure the “utmost safety” of the Jamestown community.

Asked by City Council President Anthony Dolce, R-Ward II, what a creative crosswalk is, Surdyk explained that a creative crosswalk is a crosswalk that includes additional features besides the “regular white stripes” for traditional crosswalks. However, Surdyk explained that while the city is interested in designing a creative crosswalk, the safety of residents must be the highest priority.

“We’ve talked about the importance of those white stripes and why the standards are for those white stripes, so we’re going to rely on Go Bike Buffalo to provide their expertise with regard to what we can do, so if that’s some other color paint, some other kind of design, but ultimately we know that we will follow DOT and Federal Highway standards with whatever the final sign ends up being,” she said.

The City Council is expected to pass a resolution officially accepting the grant award during the voting session at the end of the month. The total amount of the grant award is $4,310.