Center Township has taken the first step toward constructing a road with the goal of encouraging further development.
Center Township Supervisor Ken Frenchak told our newsroom, “We wanted to make a statement to not only our own constituents in Center Township community, but also to the county, state, and federal government that hey, this is for real. We want this to happen and we’re moving forward with or without you.”
Frenchak is referring to the presentation of a concept outlined by Gateway Engineers for a road that would connect Duffy and Lions Roads. The project is estimated to cost around $1.5 million not including land acquisition which has already started with the property located on the bend of Duffy.
The next step is applying for state and federal grant money to help offset some of the costs of the project but according to Frenchak this design plan would improve traffic flow in the entire area with positive results.
“This was the first step that we chose to do, to find out how much this was going to cost to construct. So now, we’re going to apply for the grant money and continuously move forward to work with the property owners to get another developer or developers in there. If another developer comes in and sees what they like and sees that we’ve already done all the cost estimates and everything for them, it’s going to make it a lot easier for them,” Frenchak explained.
Center Township is the only municipality or group behind this plan at this time but improvements could lead to interest from developers including Cambridge who built and will be leasing the new VA facility.
Written by Ryan Saeler
