An Alger County school is one of six statewide to receive a grant from the
Michigan Department of Transportation's Safe Routes to School program.
The program focuses on encouraging students to walk and bike to school, and provides money to make walking and bicycle routes to schools, well, safer, as you might have guessed. Safety is often a primary concern behind why students are bussed or driven to school, so Safe Routes to School works to remove some of those problems by installing better sidewalks, crossings, signals, or organizing safety volunteers or crossing guards. It also provides funding for educational activities like "walk to school" days, or the Walking School Bus program, and works with local schools, parents, law enforcement officials, and transportation agencies.
"The Safe Routes to School program enables schools and communities to make transportation improvements that make walking and bicycling safer options for students of all ages," says MDOT director Kirk Steudle. "With this round of federal funding, MDOT is helping to establish Safe Routes programs in schools all the way from the Upper Peninsula to Detroit, and encourage children to develop active, healthy lifestyles."
The project in Alger County will take place with William G. Mather Elementary School in Munising. It includes new sidewalks and crosswalks on M-28, and Cherry and Jewell streets. New signs and pavement markings will be added at the intersections of Elm Avenue with Jewell and Chocolay streets, and the school itself will begin a walking school bus program, weekly walk or bike to school days, a park-and-walk program, a student safety patrol, and an adult volunteer program. The entire project is budgeted at $119,757.
The other Michigan projects will take place in St. Joseph, Washtenaw and Wayne counties downstate.
Writer: Sam Eggleston
Source: Kirk Steudle, Michigan Department of Transportation
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.