Leaders are looking to make it safer to walk on a busy road in Hempfield Township.

If you're walking along Mt. Pleasant Road near the campus of the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg, a sidewalk ends near the campus housing. It then turns into woods, plants and people's front yards. The idea is to extend the sidewalk to increase connectivity.

If you go beyond the sidewalk, it's not the safest walk along Mt. Pleasant Road, as it is almost always an endless line of cars.

"We have a great business corridor that we want people to frequent, and not everybody wants to drive to everything," Hempfield Township manager Aaron Siko said.

According to Siko, the township has applied for a $1.6 million grant to cover the first phase of work. It would go from Weatherwood Lane and the new municipal center to Old Airport Road. 

Other phases would take it to Finoli Drive at Pitt Greensburg's campus, Weatherwood Lane to Thornton Avenue, and then along Pellis Road to the Eastwood neighborhood. The project would use the right-of-way they own.

"That's where we would intend to put the sidewalks. That's either paved shoulders or grass. There are some encroachments within right-of-ways that we would have to address through that project," Siko said.

This stretch of road has seen crashes, and back in 2023, a Pitt-Greensburg student was hit by a car. This project is dependent on getting the grant money. Once the township gets the money, it can start construction in either 2027 or 2028, depending on the permitting process.

"We're confident that we have a worthwhile grant application that shows a need for enhanced pedestrian mobility through this corridor," Siko said.

Other phases will have to go through the grant proposals after this first one. At this point, there is no word yet on when the other phases of the project could begin.