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ITD awards 2008 Safe Routes to School grants

The Idaho Transportation Board Wednesday approved grants of $890,000 to 19 Idaho communities for projects designed to encourage students to walk and 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 identify 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:

Jurisdiction	Grant	Jurisdiction	Grant
City of St. Anthony	106,500	City of Pocatello	10,420
City of Moscow /University of Idaho	15,000	City of Rexburg	33,472
City of Priest River/West Bonner School District	4,100	City of Idaho Falls	99,120
City of Lewiston	57,000	City of Bellevue/MRTA	56,782
Treasure Valley YMCA	25,000	City of Sandpoint	34,050
City of Nampa/Nampa School District	5,000	City of New Plymouth	99,800
Mountain Rides Transportation Authority(MRTA)	22,950	Bonneville School District	15,000
City of American Falls	73,992	Basin School District (Idaho City)	2,500
City of McCall	80,864	City of Hailey/MRTA	2,500