BUTTE — With its historic buildings and sweeping mountaintop views, Uptown Butte is a great place to walk around. Now, thanks to the Uptown Butte Master Plan Association, nine crosswalks are getting a bit of pizzazz with improvements that add visual interest and improve safety for pedestrians.
"I go everywhere in Butte," says Pam Cloonan. "I love it and think it’s safer if we had better walkways and stuff for all the handicapped people and all that stuff."
If all goes according to plan, pedestrians like Cloonan will enjoy a safer, more walkable space in Uptown Butte with improvements to nine crosswalks in the area.
"I think all of these improvements—and these crosswalks are really just the beginning—this is our first really visual project that you can see get done," says Shanna Adams, a volunteer with the Uptown Butte Master Plan Association.
Adams says the goal is to make the space cleaner, safer, more vibrant and livable.
"Just a wonderful place for people to come and shop and stay and play and do all the things," says Adams.
The project was funded in part by federal from HUD and a local grant from the Urban Revitalization Agency. Shanna says more improvements to the Uptown district are in the works.
"I really think that’s great and I hope they keep it up because we need this stuff in Butte because of our wheelchair people and everybody else that needs to walk," says Cloonan.
