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A grant application that would improve downtown West Salem was ranked last in a prioritization of local enhancement projects, although supporters are hopeful it will do better at the state level.

Dubbed “Pathways,” the West Salem streetscape project looks to tap into almost $6.26 million in federal funds administered though the Wisconsin Department of Transportation.

The last time Pathways was submitted for the biannually awarded money in 2006, it ranked third out of eight projects. This year, the La Crosse Area Planning Committee placed it sixth out of six projects.

“It was extremely shocking,” said Sharon Fuller, chair of the West Salem Economic Development Advisory Committee that prepared the grant application. “We rewrote the grant and we thought it was well written, and we’re very surprised that we got a lower ranking.”

The federal money, which funds 80 percent of an approved project, is administered through WisDOT’s Transportation Enhancements Program, which supports projects that increase multi-modal transportation alternatives and enhance the environment and communities; such projects include pedestrian and bicycle facilities, streetscaping and preserving historic transportation structures.

Pathways, an estimated $670,000 project, is a proposal to add aesthetics to downtown West Salem while improving safety in the area of Mill, Leonard and Elm streets and Memorial Drive. While a good portion of the project focuses on visual improvements — decorative lighting and brick pavers, benches, green space and new signage — the project also would encompass the La Crosse River State Trail and make paths more bicycle and pedestrian friendly and accessible.

Applications go before a state committee and then the secretary of transportation for recommendation to the governor. Before that, though, projects are ranked by a local Metropolitan Planning Organization; locally, that would be the LAPC.

Pathways and five other applications went before the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, one of three subcommittees of the LAPC, and the rankings were announced on May 14. Of the six, Pathways was the only application that had a large emphasis on aesthetics while the others primarily focused on trails.

Onalaska’s application for a Highway 16 multipurpose trail — a 9,000-foot connection between Valley View Mall and the Highway 16-Landfill Road intersection — ranked first. Coming in second was La Crosse’s Dairyland Power Extension Trail, which would be a .44-mile route that connects the Oak Street Connector Trail at Moore Street to bike lanes on Ranger Drive.

In third was La Crosse’s Goose Green Connector Trail, a one-third-mile multipurpose trail that links neighborhoods around Goose Green Park to the Three Rivers Trail. Ranked fourth was an Onalaska project that would safely link the Great River State Trail across Main Street at Highway 35 to the La Crosse River State Trail. And fifth was La Crosse’s Goose Island Connector Trail, which would create a trail between the southern part of the city to Goose Island County Park.

Jackie Eastwood, LAPC transportation planner, said part of the reason Pathways ranked below other projects was because of the emphasis on aesthetics. She said in a pre-ranking of the projects before they went to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee, Pathways actually ranked second. However, a project presentation before the committee accounts for a good portion of how applications are ultimately ranked.

“The way the program is set up, you really have to have a major emphasis on transportation facilities,” Eastwood said. “The presentation is actually a big part in selling the project. The way (Pathways was presented), they really emphasized the aesthetics. You really can’t get funding with an aesthetics project.”

But that doesn’t mean Pathways is a bad project, Eastwood said.

“I think it’s a really good project,” she said. “West Salem really needs to have their own little network, and what they have is a project to get people into town. They do have some really good things.”

Fuller said she feels there was some bias with the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee ranking the applications. Although the Transportation Enhancements Program does promote streetscape projects, the five other applications focused on bicycle and pedestrian traffic.

“The committee ranking these projects is a bicycle and pedestrian committee,” Fuller said. “Although they are responsible for ranking all projects, their expertise is bicycles and pedestrians and ours is a streetscape project. And I think that is why we got a lower ranking.”

West Salem Village Board Trustee Helen Harold, who sits on the West Salem Bicycle and Pedestrian Ad Hoc Committee, also felt trail-oriented application were favored by the LAPC committee. In addition, she said Onalaska and La Crosse have already had downtown revitalization projects, and bike and pedestrian trail projects usually come next.

“All the other applicants have their downtowns revitalized, so what else is there for them to do? They build bike routes,” Harold said. “And that’s fine, but I think first thing’s first. You work on your downtown first and then go on to other projects.”

Despite Pathways’ local ranking, Fuller and Harold remain optimistic it will do better when it goes to Madison for review on Aug. 5-6. Fuller said the state committee is made up of individuals representing the state departments of tourism, transportation and commerce, the Wisconsin Historical Society, citizens and legislators, and the committee tends to look at applications in a broader scope — including projects geared more toward aesthetics.

“I remain very positive about this,” Fuller said. “It’s not over ‘til it’s over.”

Pathways has also received letters of support from local and state leaders, including U.S. Sens. Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, U.S. Rep. Ron Kind and state Assembly Speaker Mike Huebsch.

“The Pathways project will enhance pathways, bike trails and streetscapes near downtown and develop existing amenities while providing new tourism facilities,” Kohl wrote. “I am aware that the village has been impacted by the growth of neighboring communities and believe Pathways is an important opportunity to reinvest in downtown West Salem.”

Pathways has also attracted the support of area municipalities, including Sparta.

“All of our communities in western Wisconsin would benefit from improving the beauty, accessibility, safety and environmental impact of our streets the way that (West Salem is) proposing to do,” wrote Sparta Mayor John Sund Jr.

Fuller said that if Pathways doesn’t get approved for funding, the application will probably be resubmitted, but other options for making the project a reality will also be explored.

“If it doesn’t get the ranking and the nod from the secretary of transportation and the governor, we’ll definitely be back in two years, but we will look at other funding — which could come through the state or fundraising — to do some downtown revitalization,” Fuller said.

Approved applications should be announced in early- to mid-September.