$60,000 awarded for downtown Washington project
The Washington Business District Authority (WBDA) will be receiving a $60,000 state grant as part of the state’s Main Street Matters program.
Washington’s President’s Pathway is one of 81 projects sharing in nearly $14 million earmarked for Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Main Street Matters program.
Shapiro created the Main Street Matters program to revitalize downtown areas, help businesses grow and improve community infrastructure. He secured $20 million as part of the 2024-25 budget, and his proposed 2025-26 spending plan calls for an additional $20 million for the program.
“This is so exciting,” said Shana Brown, Main Street manager for the business district authority. “This is something we’ve been waiting for.”
Brown explained that earlier this year WBDA was able to reallocate about $160,000 in funds that had been secured in a previous round of Local Share Account funding to the city for the project. This grant will fully fund the project to connect Washington & Jefferson College to the downtown Main Street area.
The “pathway” will be a brightly lit, aesthetic walkway for students to walk safely from the college to downtown. The end of the pathway will be a home for food trucks.
“There’s some talk about putting new construction on the corner of North Main Street and Chestnut to inject (the students) into the heart of downtown for them to enjoy,” Brown said. “We’re collaborating with the college to put murals that will be constantly changing on the retaining wall on Pine Alley so it will always be a kind of showcase for the college and the city. It will be a collaboration that’s ever changing and always interesting.”