The Hartland Township Board of Trustees is looking to connect the dots and fill in missing gaps in a large section of their sidewalk system.

The Board of Trustees discussed filling in the gaps on Hartland Road with Public Works Director Bob West, Tuesday night. West said he has been working with engineering over the past year and that they have revised the plan 3 times in an effort to minimize costs and save money. He called the project a challenge largely because the easy parts have been already been completed and only difficult segments remain. Whoever wins the bid will have to deal with tricky elevation changes and retaining walls.

The township has allocated $364,000 for the project and West believes they will come in under budget at $355,000. West said that for a $10,000 investment the Road Commission will install the pedestrian crossing button and the two entities will share the costs moving forward. West originally suggested putting the project up for bid after the snow from the coming winter begins to melt. This will allow bidders a better view of the elevation challenges they might have to take on and help provide a more accurate estimation of costs.

Trustee Joe Petrucci thought that might be too late if they want to complete the project in 2018 and suggested that they might try for bidding to be done this fall. Supervisor Fountain liked that idea. (MK)