Public works meeting on new sidewalks in La Crosse

Idea is to connect neighborhoods

A bunch of sidewalks will go in places they haven’t been before. 

That’s the plan in this afternoon in La Crosse, as the city attempts to bridge gaps where sidewalks end with a special meeting of the city’s board of public works to figure out where to put new sidewalks.

One of those places is in front of city council member Ryan Cornett’s home, and he’s more than happy to give up some of his lawn for a place to walk. 

“It’s actually a hazard where we’re at,” he explained, “because people will walk down the middle of the street rather than walk to the other side, because they’re trying to get to the other area of town.

“You’re going halfway down the block and the sidewalk ends, then you have to cross the street to get to the other half of the street for the other half of the sidewalk.”

Property owners, like Cornett, who are losing some green space, won’t be charged for the cost of putting in the new sidewalks. All of the walks will go in an existing city right-of-way.

“People generally, yeah, at first, are very upset about it,” Cornet said. “As we found out, as they get put in, it’s really not such a big deal.

“It’s kind of silly. We’re just thinking we need to connect some of these neighborhoods to make it easier to get around the community.”