Tonganoxie city staffers currently are working on a proposal for a path that would link downtown with Chieftain Park and the school district’s athletics fields.

If city council members give the go-ahead on Monday, the staff will seek funding for the 10-foot-wide concrete trail. Staffers will put in a bid for federal funds, administered by the Kansas Department of Transportation.

The federal money would pay for 80 percent of the estimated $340,000 cost of Chieftain Trail. The city would be required to pick up the rest for the project, which would run along Main Street between Fourth Street — providing safe access to the swimming pool, Chieftain Park, VFW Park and the athletics fields.

What a beneficial way to spend $68,000.

Currently, walking or biking down Main Street between downtown and the parks is a dangerous proposition.

And a new path would link to existing paths, which are heavily used by walkers and bikers.

Connecting the city’s renovated downtown with the city’s recently improved park system only makes sense — both from an aesthetics point of view and, certainly, from a safety point of view.

City staffers should be applauded for suggesting that Tonganoxie toss its application in the pool of cities vying for funding.

The project would be an excellent addition to our progressive city.