School, township hope to use grant
to improve sidewalk conditions
By: Purvi Desai
PLUMSTED Township and school board officials are working together through a federally funded program to construct sidewalks, improve existing ones and continue to promote the benefits of exercise for people living within a two-mile radius of local schools, the mayor said Monday.
On Dec. 12, the Township Committee passed a resolution to authorize a $350,000 grant application for the federally funded Safe Routes to School program, Mayor Ron Dancer said.
"Our township engineer, John Mallon, is the individual that put together the grant application and is submitting it to the state," he said, adding that the Township Committee received and reviewed the completed application during its last meeting.
Mayor Dancer said the application deadline is Dec. 29 for municipalities and school districts statewide.
"The township is the lead agency but (this) is a joint application with the Township Committee and the school board," he said.
In a letter to the township dated Dec. 8, Jim Edwards, the New Egypt School District business administrator and Board of Education secretary, stated that ""the program is necessary for the safety of students and to improve pedestrian safety at the school.
According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Web site, the federal Safe Routes to School program tries to combat the decade-long decline in walking and bicycling, which the FHWA state has had an adverse effect on traffic congestion and air quality around schools, as well as pedestrian and bicycle safety.
"In addition, a growing body of evidence has shown that children who lead sedentary lifestyles are at risk for a variety of health problems such as obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease," the FHWA states on its Web site. "Safety issues are a big concern for parents, who consistently cite traffic danger as a reason why their children are unable to bicycle or walk to school.
"At its heart, the SRTS program empowers communities to make walking and bicycling to school a safe and routine activity once again," according to the FHWA. "The program makes funding available for a wide variety of programs and projects, from building safer street crossings to establishing programs that encourage children and their parents to walk and bicycle safely to school."
"The major emphasis is providing the safest possible way to get children to school," Superintendent Jerry North said Tuesday. He said the district’s students already walk to school from the areas that are going to be redone; therefore, the improvements would be mostly to improve safety as opposed to encouraging exercise.
Based upon the federal enabling legislation, no matching funds are required from either the school or township, Mayor Dancer said, and all traffic education, enforcement and infrastructure projects funded under this grant program must be located within two miles of a school.
There will be 27,100 square feet of new sidewalk installations, he said, and all will be within walking distance to school in areas were there are no sidewalks. The federal grant has an educational component to it, in that $14,000 of the $350,000 will be used "to encourage and educate the students with respect to pedestrian safety (and)’"for the "discretionary encouragement program."
In the discretionary encouragement program, each of the four principals in the district will determine individually how best to use $1,000 to encourage students to comply with safe routes, Mayor Dancer said.
In addition to the construction of new sidewalks, crosswalk signage will be installed, traffic line striping will be done, painted crosswalks will be installed at intersections and existing sidewalks both will be restriped and signage improved, Mayor Dancer said.
"A partial list of the major roads within walking distance to schools that presently have no sidewalks include portions of Jacobstown Road (Route 528), Lakewood Road (Route 528) and Brindletown Road," he said.
The Township Committee and school officials are anticipating to begin construction by late spring or early summer of 2007 and to complete the project ahead of the 2007-08 school year, which starts in September, Mayor Dancer said.

