This past Monday night at the Hightstown council meeting, the governing body and residents heard a presentation from WSP/Parsons Brinckerhoff Engineering Services staff on it design work for Stockton Street and Joseph Street project., In 2015, Hightstown was awarded $275,000 in New Jersey Department of Transportation funding to improve Stockton and Joseph streets and make the area safer for children to travel to school., The state’s Safe Routes to School program enables municipalities to improve pathways to encourage students to walk and bike to class. A total of 141 applications were received and 24 were selected. The money will fund curb and sidewalk enhancements on the two streets frequented by children attending Walter C. Black and Grace N. Rogers elementary schools, both on Stockton Street., “This is going to create a safe route and environment for our children that attend both schools. Thank you for your work,” said Mayor Larry Quattrone., Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is a federal, state and local effort to improve the health and well-being of children by enabling and encouraging children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school; make bicycling and walking to school a safer and more appealing transportation alternative, thereby encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle from an early age; and to facilitate the planning, development and implementation of projects and activities that will improve safety and reduce traffic, fuel consumption and air pollution in the vicinity of schools., The presentation was an update on the timeline for the project, which should begin construction in June 2018.
