SEQUIM — City leaders, supportive seniors living in the Vintage at Sequim apartments on Brackett Road and Walmart executives celebrated the official opening of a paved sidewalk from the apartment complex to the megastore at Priest Road.

The 1,150-foot-long asphalt walkway built by Lakeside Industries of Port Angeles is a safer, flatter approach for seniors on foot and in scooters and was built thanks to a $20,000 donation from the Walmart.

Store manager Lee Ruiz said the Sequim Walmart will open a new grocery store addition March 28.

“For us, we’re just glad it’s a safer path for our customers coming through here,” Ruiz said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony that he and Walmart Regional Market Manager Tom Etchells attended along with at least 20 Vintage apartment residents.

The walkway also has a four-person park bench donated by Walmart.

Andy Nilles — a 91-year-old Vintage retiree, led the apartment complex’s petition drive calling for the pedestrian improvement that gathered more 100 signatures last year — attended along with city leaders that included Mayor Ken Hays, Council Member Ted Miller, City Manager Steve Burkett and City Clerk Karen Reese.

“It wouldn’t have been possible without Andy, who is a very effective troublemaker, but we like those,” Hays told the small crowd who chuckled at the comment and applauded Nilles for his activism.

“I’m just glad they got it here before I kicked the bucket,” said Nilles, who was in the hospital undergoing treatment for a heart-valve issue when Lakeside built the trail in early to mid-December.

It was Nilles who went before the Sequim City Council last year, informing the elected officials that Vintage apartment residents who make frequent trips to Walmart for medication and groceries needed a safe walkway.

Another issue was the crossing on Priest Road.

Since the petition was presented to the council, the Priest Road crossing has been improved with new Clallam County Public Utility District street lights and a more defined crosswalk.

Walmart executives saw how residents were having trouble walking across Priest Road, Etchells said, and anticipate more traffic when the store completes and opens the 35,577-square-foot grocery store addition to the west side of the existing 113,000-square-foot Walmart store, which underwent remodeling.

Etchells told city officials that the store expects business to grow by as much as 30 percent with the Walmart grocery store addition.

“I would like to thank Walmart very much because I think they were a big instigator in all this,” Nilles said.

Other vintage residents also voiced appreciation for the new walkway that runs on the south side of Brackett Road.

“This is such an improvement,” said Vintage resident Dick Engh, sitting in his scooter on the new path.

While Nilles wanted a four-way stop at the intersection, Haines and Garlington said the intersection did not qualify because of heavy traffic on Priest Road entering the Walmart parking lot.

City officials Tuesday afternoon also dedicated a new sidewalk on east side of North Third Avenue, which will benefit students walking from the Sequim school campus north of West Fir Street.

Prime contractor C&J Excavating of Carlsborg constructed the Third Avenue sidewalk between Spruce and Fir streets.

The 450 feet of new sidewalk was made possible through $55,000 in Transportation Benefit District sales tax dollars.

The Transportation Benefit District’s two-tenths of 1 percent sales tax was approved by the voters in 2009.

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Sequim-Dungeness Valley Editor Jeff Chew can be reached at 360-681-2391 or at jeff.chew@peninsuladailynews.com.