3/21/2008
Idaho Transportation Department awards 2008 Safe Routes to School grants
BOISE - The Idaho Transportation Board Wednesday (March 19) approved grants of $890,000 to 19 Idaho communities for projects designed to encourage students to walk or bicycle safely to school.
The funds are part of the Safe Routes to School program, a federal initiative to encourage and enable children to safely walk and bicycle to school. The Idaho Transportation Department receives federal funds each year to distribute on a reimbursement basis for projects selected by the Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee.
Awards approved this week went to the cities of St. Anthony, Moscow, Priest River, Lewiston, Idaho Falls, Nampa, American Falls, McCall, Pocatello, Payette, Rexburg, Idaho Falls, Bellevue, Sandpoint, New Plymouth and Hailey. The Idaho City School District, Mountain Rides Transportation Authority and the Treasure Valley YMCA also received funding.
Applicants were asked to list barriers that prevent children from walking or bicycling to school in their communities and to propose a project to address those barriers.
All projects were required to include a non-infrastructure component such as education and encouragement activities, and to provide evidence of good community partnerships to help build sustainable programs.
Projects ranged in scope from constructing 3,360 feet of sidewalks in St. Anthony to creating a series of safer walking and bicycling route maps to 23 schools in the Treasure Valley.
"The awards committee was looking for projects that emphasized the non-infrastructure components that are so important to the Safe Routes to School program. Without strategies to educate and encourage students to walk or bicycle, our infrastructure dollars will not be as effective," said Elaine Clegg, the Idaho Smart Growth representative on the Safe Routes to School Advisory Committee.
"Fewer children are walking to school now than ever before," Clegg said. "One of the goals of the Safe Routes to School program is to raise awareness among communities about the need to provide good connectivity between neighborhoods and schools when planning development and future land use, to enable children who could be walking and biking to do so."
Award recipients include:
City of St. Anthony $106,500
City of Moscow / University of Idaho 15,000
City of Priest River / West Bonner School District 4,100
City of Lewiston 57,000
Treasure Valley YMCA 25,000
City of Nampa / Nampa School District 5,000
Mountain Rides Transportation Authority(MRTA) 22,950
City of American Falls 73,992
City of McCall 80,864
City of Pocatello 10,420
City of Rexburg 33,472
City of Idaho Falls 99,120
City of Bellevue / MRTA 56,782
City of Sandpoint 34,050
City of New Plymouth 99,800
Bonneville School District 15,000
Basin School District (Idaho City) 2,500
City of Hailey / MRTA 2,500