The Hutchinson City Council spent nearly two hours going over four items as a part of a study session early Tuesday morning.

City Manager John Deardoff says they seem in favor of moving ahead including possibly approving the award of funding for a “Complete Streets,” workshop which will be hosted by the Hutchinson Planning Department and the Community Improvements Commission.

The Hutchinson Community Foundation was recently awarded a 300-hundred thousand dollar grant from the Kansas Health Foundation to fund local proposals promoting healthy living and community design. They in turn awarded 60-thousand to the city Planning and Development Department to promote healthy community design.

Now, the funding of 23-thousand, 600-dollars will bring Complete Streets Coalition representatives to Hutchinson. They are licensed civil engineers and will work with as many as 40 representatives from the Hutchinson City Council, city staff, city advisory boards, and other community partners to develop a common vision. The workshop scheduled for May 2, and 3.

The funding of 36-thousand 400-dollars will provide the City Engineering Department with the ability to graphically show the location, width and condition of sidewalks and ADA ramps in Hutchinson via a Geographic Information System map.

A consultant has been hired by the Engineering Department to conduct a street inventory and this funding will allo the consultant to add sidewalks and ADA ramps to the inventory.

Complete streets is based on a simple idea, that streets should work for everyone, of all ages and ablilities, regardless of how they travel.

They say to date, 200 communities across the country have formally adopted a written complete streets policy, to provide safe access to all modes of travel.

Deardoff says this item will be brought before the City Council in the near future for further action.