State grants will provide new sidewalk, safer walking routes to school for Erie students
More than $1.6 million in state grants will help keep Erie students safe as they walk to and from school.
A $1.4 million grant to the city will provide sidewalks near schools.
A $230,000 grant to United Way of Erie County will fund Safer Walking Routes to schools.
"It's estimated that about 7,000 Erie students walk to and from school on an average day. And they're contending with traffic and other barriers," said Joelyn Bush, United Way vice president of communications and marketing.
The projects
The grant to the city will pay for the installation of more than 9,000 square yards of sidewalk within 1.5 miles of Erie schools.
"A lot of the sidewalk, including curb ramps and crosswalks, will be around parks near the schools so that students can get there safely," city project engineer Bill Heiden said.
The state funding additionally will provide about 40 new curb ramps and as many as 15 high-visibility, "piano-key" crosswalks.
Exact locations for the improvements will be determined. City officials were notified of the grant award on Friday and will begin formal design of the project.
"Things could change as we start laying things out and decide what is feasible and what is not," Heiden said.
The grant to United Way will provide Safer Walking Routes to School for students at five United Way Community Schools — Erie's Jefferson, Diehl, Harding, Perry and JoAnna Connell elementary schools.
Safer Walking Routes previously were mapped for McKinley, Edison and Pfeiffer-Burleigh elementary schools and East and Strong Vincent middle schools with $250,000 in Erie Community Foundation funding.
"This new grant will help us expand our reach to other parts of the city," said Mike Jaruszewicz, United Way's senior vice president of community impact.
Routes will be mapped in partnership with Gannon University and Erie County's Geographic Information System.
"We'll walk the areas around the schools to identify what the barriers to walking safety are. We'll also sit down with school teams and Blue Coats to determine the safest routes," Jaruszewicz said.
It won't be a quick process.
"We need to be mindful of walking conditions throughout the year. Walking to school in May is very different from walking to school in January," Jaruszewicz said. "We will do our due diligence and will incorporate that into our timeline."
The new grant also will fund a public awareness campaign including yard signs and streaming service and social media ads sharing the message that, "Erie kids walk to school - Let's keep them safe."
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The grants
Funding for the sidewalk and Safer Walking Routes projects is from the Transportation Alternatives Set-Aside program of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
The department on Thursday awarded almost $50 million in Set-Aside grants for 55 projects statewide. The awards included $120,510 to Fairview Township for crosswalk improvements.
Contact Valerie Myers at vmyers@timesnews.com.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Sidewalks, safe walking routes will help keep Erie students safe
