By ROBERT LINNEHAN
Jonathan Allen, 26, makes the trip from his home in the Inglis Gardens development on 304 N. Elmwood Road to the intersection of Evesboro-Medford Road usually twice a day. In a powered wheelchair, Allen has become the resident that most in the Inglis Gardens community depend on for supplies from the nearby 7–11 convenience store in the intersection. He’s young, he’s energetic, and he’s willing to make the trip for his neighbors.
The problem is that each time he travels down the busy 35-mile-per-hour road, he feels like he is taking his life into his own hands. About 100 yards after he leaves the Inglis Gardens community the sidewalk ends and he is forced to travel the rest of the distance to the store on the shoulder of the roadway.
“I’d say I probably make the trip about 14 times each week,” Allen said. “Unfortunately many feel in the development like they’re in a prison because we’re so locked in here in this location.”
Allen is currently petitioning the township council to construct a sidewalk from his development to the corner of Evesboro-Medford Road. The township is willing to listen, but representatives have reported that it would likely cost about $270,000 to construct a sidewalk on that side of N. Elmwood because it runs through a patch of wetlands.
The township has proposed a mid-street crossing to the other side of N. Elmwood — and its sidewalk — to be constructed in front of the development. A plan for a sidewalk going left to the intersection of Rt. 70, to give the residents a place to cross over at a marked intersection, is in the design phase at the moment as well.
To view a slideshow of the current route Allen must take each day to get to the 7–11, click on the first photo above.
