McCann Students Saving Lanesborough $20K on Ramp
|
McCann students are demolishing the old wheelchair ramp and installing a brand-new one. |
LANESBOROUGH, Mass. — McCann Technical School students are saving the town more than $20,000 by replacing a decrepit wheelchair ramp.
The town had planned to set aside $30,000 to replace the falling apart ramp to Town Hall with a concrete one.
But the McCann carpentry class needed a final project and offered to do it for only material costs, which is around $6,000.
The town then re-engineered the project to be a wooden ramp for $2,000 and are getting the entire project completed for just short of a third of the original cost.
"This will be all ADA compliant," Town Administrator Paul Sieloff said, adding that the town's staff will be overseeing the construction.
The old ramp had been falling apart for years and its slope was too steep for current code. When the town was ready to fix it, its representative to the McCann School Committee put the two programs together since the project fit what the students were looking to do.
"Our curriculum at the school is for our juniors and seniors to work in the community," teacher Fran Kruzel said.
On Tuesday, the students were demolishing the old ramp and prepping for the new one. In mid-June, they will be at the site every day constructing the new one. The seniors and juniors will alternate weeks until the project is complete. The students are on site all day and eat lunches made by the school's culinary department.
The seniors use the construction as their senior project.
Tags: ADA, construction, McCann,
