Elli Giammona's been told she'll move mountains.

She's only just about 9, though, so she took on a trail first. With help, the Hellgate Elementary School student and young biker is moving a walkway onto Mullan Road.

"I just wanted to ride to school, ride to Baskin-Robbins, ride to Wal-Mart," Elli said.

And that's just her. Then, there's President Barack Obama, who just wanted to jump-start the economy. And County Public Works director Greg Robertson, who just wanted to find a quick and easy project that fit the stimulus bill.

Their wishes converged, and a bicycle and pedestrian pathway is on its way. Come spring 2010, construction will begin on an 8-foot-wide paved trail from Cote Lane to Flynn Lane on the south side of Mullan Road.

"Elli probably will be able to use it before school gets out," Robertson said.

And that was how the whole thing started.

When Elli was 7, she wanted to ride her bike to school. But the Giammonas live off Mullan Road. Each day, 12,000 cars go by their home, and go by fast. Her parents, Luann and John, weren't keen on their daughter biking with speeding sedans.

But Elli rode on sidewalks back when the family lived in Austin, Texas, and she wanted to know why there wasn't a sidewalk on Mullan. Sidewalks, her mother explained, are expensive.

"Can you buy one?"

"Mmm. No. I don't think so. But here's an idea."

The idea was a brief lesson in lobbying one's government. Luann taught Elli the meaning of the word "petition" and told her how one works. Soon, an idea took shape.

Elli took writing utensil to notebook paper:

"Petition. We want a sidewalk on Mullan Road. With a rale."

She and her sister Kate, now 6, knocked on doors, as did her brother Nick, now 12, with a friend. Together, they gathered more than 75 signatures, and few people turned them down. It wasn't what Elli had expected.

"I thought lots of people wouldn't sign because how little I was. But then, it came through," she said.

It wasn't what the county public works director had expected, either. A handwritten letter arrived addressed to Missoula County, Board of County Commissioners, and the commissioners passed its contents to Robertson.

"I've been in this business about 25 years, and I'd never seen a petition quite like that before," he said.

For starters, the list of names included some entries with only first names. Some people included their ages, at times corrected. One entry: "Josh 9."

The petition came with a handwritten cover letter:

"Hello, my name is Elizabeth Giammona. I'm in seconed grade at Hellgate Elementary. I have a concern that it is unsafe to walk along Mullen Road without a sidewalk. Some of my neighbors feel the same way.

"Reasons.

1. safety to walk.

2. exercise.

3. kids to viset friends and to go to school.

4. save fuel for cars and buses.

5. people enjoy it.

6. safer for drivers.

"Please let me know what we citizens can do to make this happen."

Two days later, Robertson wrote back. He told Elli she was right, and he'd added her request to the agenda for an upcoming meeting. It was one he also invited her to attend.

"Your reasons for a sidewalk are very valid and well thought out," Robertson wrote. "Honestly, I don't know why we don't have plans for a sidewalk or trail in this area."

The letter is dated Jan. 14, 2009, around the time Robertson was looking for a project eligible for American Reinvestment and Recovery Act dollars. Criteria? A quick turnaround, a project in the urban area, and one uncomplicated by problems like right-of-way negotiations and extra environmental reviews.

"Honestly, I didn't have any other projects for consideration at the time that would have met the criteria," he said.

As it happened, the right people gave Elli's idea a thumbs up. They're the Transportation Policy Coordinating Committee, and Robertson shared the good news with the young constituent in another letter.

"First, I wanted to thank you for sitting through that long meeting. You were very patient," Robertson wrote. He went on to describe the trail coming to Mullan Road. "This ought to get you pretty close to school. The reason why the trail stops at Flynn Lane is that the rest is outside my jurisdiction since that is where the city limits begin."

Robertson said he may have been able to request a project that continued along Flynn Lane, but he would have needed city permission to use right-of-way. That request would have complicated the simple project, a $600,000 one.

In Missoula proper, Public Works director Steve King said while the city has right-of-way on Flynn Lane, most adjacent properties are in the county. There's no pot of money for such a trail, and he doesn't figure property owners will volunteer to pay.

"It would have to be an unconventional project," King said.

Kind of like the young lady, then, who said she isn't sure if she's going to ask that the path continue all the way to school. But Flynn isn't busy like Mullan, anyway.

And the trail on Mullan came with a bonus, a lesson Luann is glad her daughter learned. She said government sometimes gets a bad rap, and she's pleased her daughter's first experience was a good one.

"We knew when she was young she was going to move mountains," Luann said.

Even people far away believe such experiences cultivate strong community members.

Authority figures, such as teachers, can foster that spirit of being active and interested, said Allendra Letsome, with the National Organization for Women. In school, when teachers give students a chance to make even a small decision, like which of three CDs to listen to at naptime, they nurture people who are invested in the world around them.

"If they know they can affect one part of the classroom, they're much more engaged in the rest," said Letsome, a national vice president.

Being engaged appears to be one of Elli's strongest suits. Her brother Nick said his independent sister likes to get around on her own and to help other people. Elli reads the National Geographic for children, and has won "like a million" blue ribbons for swimming. Her former principal, Candy Johnson, who had Elli in her Hellgate building in first and second grade, said the child caught her attention.

"This little girl is going to go places. Mark my words," Johnson said.

Once the trail design is complete, Robertson said he will send a copy to Elli so she and the other petitioners can peruse it. (It isn't yet clear if a rail is necessary.)

He's glad to be on the job, and said Elli's thank-you note for the trail made his day.

"There will be lots of things we can use it for, like going to school, or getting ice cream, it also saves energey. Please write back."

As a government official, he no doubt receives many other kinds of missives and communications.

"It's not too often you see a second-grader take that kind of initiative," Robertson said. "It really makes you kinda happy that you can help someone achieve what they want."

And of course, what she wanted was the path. By next summer, Elli will cruise along it on her purple XR-75 Mongoose bike. First place she wants to go?

"School. School, school, school."

Reporter Keila Szpaller can be reached at 523-5262, keila.szpaller@missoulian.com or on MissoulaRedTape.com.