Warwick receives $498,623 Safe Route to School grant
WARWICK — The state Department of Transportation has approved a $498,623 Safe Route to School grant that the village, town and Warwick Valley School District will use to encourage safer and more frequent walking and bicycling for students and community members.
“The desire to connect the village to our outlying schools has been an important issue for some time,” Mayor Michael Newhard said in press release issued by the village, town and school district. “It’s been frustrating as plans were derailed by the fiscal environment and budget limitations. This grant is a dream come true.”
The mayor added: “Creating a safe link to the high school, middle school and St. Stephen’s, will be an asset shared by the entire community. Developing crosswalks on Forester Avenue and Galloway reinforces our commitment to creating a pedestrian-friendly Village and will allow many children to walk to school easily and safely.”
Details
The grant money will allow for installation of 0.8 miles of sidewalk from Warwick Valley Middle School along West Street Extension, beginning at St. Stephen’s Place and ending at Pond Hill Road.
Officials said this new sidewalk will connect the middle school to the sidewalk-lined streets of the Village. A crosswalk is also planned, allowing students to safely cross from the new sidewalk to the middle school building.
The grant will also fund the installation of crosswalks at Park Avenue Elementary School. Crosswalks at Hawthorne Avenue and McFarland Drive will ensure the safety of children walking along these heavily populated routes.
Also included in the grant application was the purchase of two solar-powered radar speed signs, one to be installed near the middle school and one near Park Avenue Elementary School.
“This successful grant,” said Warwick Town Supervisor Michael Sweeton, “is a great example of the collaborative efforts the school, village and town take each and every day to improve our community as cost effectively as possible.”
Added School Superintendent Dr. Raymond Bryant: “New sidewalks and crosswalks will greatly benefit the health and safety of our students. We hope it will encourage more students to walk safely and discourage dangerous routes like the railroad tracks. The grant will provide safe, healthy alternatives to riding the bus or being driven to school. The project will make walking and biking safe and, hopefully, more appealing to everyone.”
Funding
Safe Routes to School is a federal, state and local effort to enable and encourage children to walk and bicycle to school by making those activities safe and appealing. It is a 100-percent federally funded reimbursement program.
The program can bring a wide range of benefits to students and the community, including an easy way for children to get regular physical activity and possibly ease traffic and reduce pollution around schools.
Next steps
Local officials will meet soon with state transportation officials to discuss next steps for the sidewalk project. These DOT personnel will assist in the development of a Project Management Plan and compliance with all Federal and State requirements for the project.
“We plan to hit the ground running,” Newhard said. “Since there was a fair amount of pre-engineering done for the grant we should be able to bid the project out this spring for summer construction and, hopefully, fall delivery.”