BY ADAM ATKINSON

North Country This Week

CANTON -- The Canton village board of trustees has agreed to contribute $1,000 to an engineering study of Miner Street Road.

The town board recently approved a $9,800 bid from Brooks Washburn Architect P.C. of Potsdam for an engineering study of the roadway which municipal officials and residents there say is in need of safety enhancements.

The village board passed a resolution at their meeting on Monday, June 17 to contribute $1,000 to the engineering analysis which will include a section of the road inside the village limits.

“We had already been looking at that section, from Clark to the bridge,” said Village Mayor Mike Dalton. The mayor said that with the work underway at Appleton, “we may have an opportunity to change some things there.” The mayor said one of the things that could be done is to increase the line of site and lessen the curve in the road near Appleton.

A 1.2-mile section of the roadway, from inside the village at the Clark Street intersection out to Jingleville Road, will be studied by the firm. Potential infrastructure improvements, notably for pedestrian and non-motorized traffic safety, will be a key piece of the work done by Brooks Washburn.

A significant number of pedestrians, roller bladers, joggers, St. Lawrence University students and athletes, and bikers, along with families traveling to Taylor Park, is part of the regular traffic of Miner Street Road. The narrowness of the lanes, at just 18 feet in some spots, presents safety concerns, village officials have said.