Nik Rajkovic / news@whmi.com

As Hartland Township continues to grow, officials are working to make businesses along M-59 more accessible to bike and foot traffic. Trustees on Tuesday approved $228,000 for engineering work to fill in sidewalk gaps along both sides of Highland Road, east of U.S. 23.

Township Manager Mike Luce says they’ve also applied for a half-million-dollar matching grant from SEMCOG to help fund the project.

“We’re looking at roughly $1 million worth of sidewalk to be done along M-59. The topographical survey, soil borings and construction plans, specs and permitting, all of that is something we would pay in this project moving forward, even if we don’t get the grant.”

Once finished, the project would offer an ADA accessible route to restaurants and shopping on both sides Highland Road.

“The north side of M-59 taking us all the way down to Bella Vita from Clark Road, or I should say the Mugg & Bopps next to Clark Road,” said Luce.

“So, the south side is filling in a lot of gaps along 59 all the way to Cundy Road. Essentially from the entrance to the plaza at McDonald’s, all the way down to Cundy Road."

Efforts to make Hartland’s M-59 corridor more accessible comes at the same time township planners have been approving new residential and commercial developments.

“One our goals was to tie-in with Oakland County,” said Supervisor Bill Fountain. “That was done by MDOT themselves, when they rebuilt that whole section into Milford.”

“That’s why on this north side, we want to be able to continue that and, in theory, sometime down that road that will connect, all the way to Oakland County.”

Video of Tuesday’s meeting is linked below.