Whether it's walking to school or biking, the Town of Mooresville is utilizing $30,000 in grant money to make sure students can travel safely from home to three area schools.
Awarded in 2008, a $30,000 Safe Routes to School Action Plan Grant aims to develop various strategies – both innovative ideas and infrastructures – that will make walking and biking to and from school a safe decision for families, said the town's transportation planner, Neil Burke.
This particular grant, he noted, will help create greenways, sidewalks and creative tactics for South and Park View elementaries and Mooresville Middle School.
Noting that the Safe Routes to School Action Plan Grant is a statewide grant awarded to many communities throughout North Carolina, Burke said the North Carolina Department of Transportation does "all the legwork," hiring nearby consultants – in this case, a firm out of Charlotte – to work with the town in making the project a reality.
Burke, acting as project manager, noted that the Safe Routes to School program is multi-faceted, creating both infrastructure, such as sidewalks, near schools and implementing various innovative strategies that can make non-vehicle travel to school a bit safer.
Whether it's a "walking school bus" of a parent and several neighborhood students walking to school together or educating children about the rules of the road for biking, Burke said encouragement, enforcement and education will receive a portion of the grant money.
"It's really an all encompassing program," he said, noting that a large chunk of the grant will be used for sidewalks and other infrastructure. Burke mentioned that bike lanes are a possibility as are the construction of paths from nearby neighborhoods, additional bike racks and other adequate structures necessary for full implementation of those ideas.
Still in "the beginning of the process" though, Burke said the town is reaching out to residents before delegating funds to specific items of the project.
The next step toward utilizing the grant is to decide how and where each dollar should be spent, he added. Those strategies will ultimately be decided among the town, NCDOT and the hired consultants.
However, Burke said town staffers are seeking input from area residents, especially those near to the three affected schools, about the best ways the $30,000 should be spent.
Although Mooresville Graded School District officials, law enforcement officers and town staffers are already involved in the process – a first meeting was held Feb. 24 – Burke said additional town residents are needed for the project's steering committee.
"I'd like to see more residents participating in future meetings because this is really their plan," he said. "An ideal steering committee for this type of project would be 12 to15 members. If we can get six local residents, that would be a good balance."
Steering committee members would help provide input about the project at three or four meetings, he noted. The dates and times of those meetings have not been announced, but will be flexible.
People interested in serving on the steering committee for the Safe Routes to School Action Plan can contact Burke at nburke@ci.mooresville.nc.us or 704-663-2891.
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