Sentinel photo by SIERRA BOLGER
Pictured is the Electric Avenue/Highland Park roadway to receive pedestrian safety upgrades.

LEWISTOWN — Planning for an expansion project to improve pedestrian safety and a project to expand the local walking trail system is underway as James Lettiere, the Mifflin County Planning and Development Department director, shared updates at the Thursday, June 4, planning commission meeting.

Lettiere said that Mifflin County received word from PennDOT notifying the commission that they would receive approximately $1,489,740 from PennDOT’s Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside Program for the Electric Avenue/Highland Park Safe Routes to School Project.

This ongoing project prioritizes the safety of pedestrians along the Electric Avenue/Highland Park roadway.

Workers will install six-foot wide bike lanes and five-foot wide sidewalks as well as crosswalks and entrance signage for the businesses along that road.

The $1,614,740 project currently encompasses the eastern side of Electric Avenue from Ort Valley Road to Derry Park Drive. The county will contribute $125,000 toward the enhancements.

“We are scheduled to meet with the county engineer, i.e., the EADS Group, tomorrow morning to discuss the details of the project. This will include reaffirming the PennDOT right-of-way of Electric Avenue from Ort Valley Road to Derry Park Drive is wide enough to accommodate six-foot bike lanes, five-foot sidewalks, curbing and any need for traffic rerouting,” said Lettiere.

Lettiere said the commission will also discuss how to adequately address uncurbed parking and a lack of access management that creates conflict points among automobiles, bikes, horse and buggies, and pedestrians.

Workers will also install crosswalks at the intersections of Third, Fourth, and Sixth Street and possible refuge islands where feasible.

“We are awaiting the contract from PennDOT, and no further details are available,” added Lettiere.

Lettiere then shared an update on the walking/biking trail connecting Victory Park to Stone Arch Bridge, which is part of an ongoing effort to expand the walking trail system through Lewistown.

During the meeting, Lettiere said he is working with Lewistown Borough Council to address concerns about how the proposed trail could affect nearby recreational areas.

“The Borough Manager Julie Brooks and myself met with representatives from the softball league on site at the end of May and we made a slight adjustment to the trail route,” said Lettiere.

He said this adjustment eliminated “any interference with the softball activity and parking. The league and the borough were satisfied with the realignment.”

He added that the borough council also raised concerns about locating the trailhead near the sewage treatment plant, particularly if the facility needs future expansion.

However, more recently, Lettiere said that the trail expansion project will start at the Stone Arch Bridge parking lot/trailhead, along public rights-of-way and Borough property, to a trailhead to be constructed on the borough’s Wastewater Treatment Plant property.

At the May 8, 2026, Lewistown Borough Council meeting the commission was granted authority to complete a land survey for all three borough owned parcels, to ensure the trail alignment is wholly contained on borough property.

According to Lettiere, if the trail is determined to be entirely on borough property, the borough will grant the county easements which would allow the public to traverse the trail.

The project will contain approximately .40 miles of a 10′ wide bituminous walking/biking trail and approximately .70 miles of the trail will be along public rights-of-way from Stone Arch Bridge to the boroughs’ Wastewater Treatment Plant.

Preliminary discussions with the borough manager and the borough council included a provision that the trail head parking lot on the borough’s Wastewater Treatment Plant may be constructed, provided it be removed in the event the borough would need to expand the plant at a future time.

The county will procure a land surveyor sometime in July with further project updates to follow.