Urbana city officials are applying for funding for several programs that would boost infrastructure along a section of U.S. 36, improve the city’s storm sewer systems and help to cover the cost to install sidewalks on several city streets as part of the federal Safe Routes to School program.

Council members approved a resolution last week that allowed the city to apply for $833,312 in Ohio Department of Transportation funding to make improvements along a section of U.S. 36 from Berwick Drive to Lippincott Lane, said Doug Crabill, assistant to the director of administration for Urbana. Among the improvements, the city would install additional sidewalks, as well as additional lighting along that stretch of road.

ODOT is scheduled to resurface that portion of the road in 2015, and city officials are hoping to make several improvements at once. If approved, the city would be required to pay 20 percent of the cost of the project, which is estimated at about $166,700.

The project would also include improvements to the storm water system along that portion of the road, which is expected to cost an additional $334,000, said Tyler Bumbalough, assistant engineer for the city. The city will likely apply for assistance from the Ohio Public Works Commission to help cover the cost of that project, Bumbalough said.

The final phase included in the U.S. 36 project would include resurfacing, which is expected to cost $459,600. The city would be responsible for 20 percent of the total cost, about $91,000, while ODOT would likely cover the rest.

“It’s one big project, but there are different portions we have to get together,” Bumbalough said.

In a separate resolution, city officials will apply for assistance to install sidewalks along several city streets as part of the Safe Routes to School program. The city has previously completed work on a first phase of the project, which included installing curb ramps along Main Street and adding flashing school zone signs for each of the city’s three elementary schools.

The second phase, which the city will apply for now, would install sidewalks along one side of the road for Hagenbuch, Pinder, Jefferson, Mosgrove, Boyce, Jefferson and Madison Streets, Bumbalough said. It would also cover the cost to install curb ramps along those streets and possibly install flashing school zone signs along the city’s junior high school and East Elementary School. The total cost of the project is estimated at $420,000.

City council members also approved a resolution that will allow city administrators to submit a No Further Action Letter to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency for the former Fox River Paper Mill facility on Court Street. Crabill said the city owns property, which is now used for the Weidmann Electrical Technology Corp. The company produces electric insulation for transformer manufacturers.

The city has completed an environmental cleanup of the site, and the letter is an early step in the process to receive a Covenant Not to Sue from the EPA. That process, which could take about six months, will allow the city to turn the property over to Weidmann and will give the company assurance that all the necessary environmental cleanup work at the facility has been conducted properly.