Ann Arbor's Thurston Elementary School receives federal funding to improve walking, biking routes
Ann Arbor's Thurston Elementary School will receive more than $160,000 in federal funds for the Safe Routes to School project, which will help students more safely walk or ride their bikes to school.
Thurston, the first school in Washtenaw County to receive the grant, was awarded $160,840 for a number of projects that would encourage students to walk and bike to school. Ann Arbor Public Schools spokeswoman Liz Margolis said the money would help further the district’s student wellness initiatives.
“Thurston has been really committed to getting more kids to walk or use their bikes to and from school,” she said. “They really encourage that and they have a nice location to do it, with the proximity of local neighborhoods and walkways around the school.”
Thurston Elementary was one of 10 schools in the state to receive a Safe Routes to School grant. In total, about $1.4 million was awarded.
The local funds will go toward seven projects outlined during talks between the city of Ann Arbor, the Washtenaw County Public Health Department, the Thurston Parent Teacher Organization and school administration.
The projects planned are:
- Upgrading crosswalk pavement markings at five intersections and upgrading advance school warning signs at 33 locations within the Thurston neighborhood.
- Building two new mid-block crosswalks on Green Road with pedestrian refuge islands north of Sugarbush Park, and a four- to three-lane conversion.
- Installing rectangular rapid-flashing beacons at two locations on Green Road — between the Burbank Drive intersections and at a new mid-block crosswalk north of the Georgetown Boulevard sidewalk extension.
- Improving the sight distances at the intersection of Green Road at Gettysburg Road, installing advance flasher treatment and separating sidewalk from road surface.
- Holding "Walk to School" days and bike rodeos.
- Implementing a mileage club.
- Teaching pedestrian and bicycle safety lessons in the fall and spring.
The grant is the end of a two-year process seeking funding, which included forming a Safe Routes to School Team with parents, neighbors, school administrators and representatives from the county and city.
Pat Cawley, senior project manager for the city of Ann Arbor, said the grant funds were the result of hard work by everyone involved, especially the county health department.
“It takes a grassroots effort and the Washtenaw County Public Health Department led the charge and got everyone together, and hats off to them really,” he said.
The team gathered information from students and parents about safety concerns and outlined road improvements that could help promote safer commuting, according to a statement released by the city’s project management office.
Despite being the first school in the county to receive Safe Routes to School funding, it’s likely Thurston won’t be the last.
Lily Guzman, a health educator at the Washtenaw County Public Health Department who was involved in the grant application process, said there are schools in the area that plan to submit grant applications by the end of the school year.
“Carpenter (Elementary School) and Clague (Middle School) are also actively working on submitting applications by the end of this school year,” she said, “and many more schools in Washtenaw County are working on Safe Routes planning and programming.”
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Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.
Comments
aapsalum
Sat, Jan 1, 2011 : 9:17 a.m.
@digger: The federal Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program was created by Section 1404 of the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), which was signed into public law (P.L. 109-59) on August 10, 2005. I believe Bush was president then. @Ponycar: Yes, things have really changed since you went to school in 70's and 80's. I went to Clague then too, and if you recall, Green Road did not extend past the condos across from Sugarbush park. Now Green Road connects to Nixon, and hundreds of homes (Ann Arbor Hills Subdivision), condos (Ashford Place and Bromley Park), and apartments (Windemere Apartments) exist where there used to be open fields. Those kids walk and bike to Thurston, and this is precisely who the improvements are designed to assist. A lot of research and thought went into this project, and it started over 3 years ago. As a prerequisite for funding eligibility, schools must complete a school-based planning process culminating in the creation of a Safe Routes to School Action Plan. This process-described in the SR2S Handbook-involves: Forming a multidisciplinary team of local stakeholders (SR2S Team module); Collecting baseline data on parent and student behaviors and attitudes towards walking and bicycling (Behaviors and Attitudes module); Conducting environmental audits of the school grounds and the surrounding neighborhoods/ areas (Safe Routes module) Completing a SR2S Action Plan that addresses the issues identified through the survey process or through the environmental audits (Making Change module).
Ponycar
Mon, Dec 27, 2010 : 4:13 a.m.
I'm all for keeping kids safe but, unless things have really changed since I lived on Bluett and went to Thurston, this seems like overkill. I walked or rode my bike every day to this school and to Clague in the '70's and '80's and I don't remember any problems. Nor do I know of any incidences that would bring this kind of "safety blitz" on. Am I missing an incident or two that this overkill might have prevented? If it's so badly needed, why didn't the parents take up a collection, run fundraisers or use money from the Thurston Players to pay for it instead of forcing "other people" to fix their seeming non-problem. There's too much use of other peoples money for frivolous purposes going on in this country!
digger
Sat, Dec 25, 2010 : 5:57 a.m.
Mike----what we have is Obama logic---investigate his shovel ready projects--scary stuff
A2Susie
Fri, Dec 24, 2010 : 3:46 p.m.
Congratulations Thurston School neighborhood! Good job! An already wonderful neighborhood gets even better.
KeepingItReal
Fri, Dec 24, 2010 : 10:12 a.m.
I'm all for ensuring safety for our youth to and from school but I have some concerns that school, public health and city officials who express concerns about the health of our children but will allow all kinds of junk food in the system all under the guise of making extra money for the school. It doesn't make sense for these officials to get all excited about such an initiative when they will not tackle a much more serious problem and that is the junk food these skids are fed on a daily basis.
McGiver
Fri, Dec 24, 2010 : 6:54 a.m.
It seems like a great thing when someone else pays for your project until you find out how many other projects your paying for that aren't in your district. This kind of thinking has to stop if we are ever to get our fiscal house in order. We are always more responsible with our own money than someone elses. If these paths are really needed, why don't you fund them yourself?
localgirl
Thu, Dec 23, 2010 : 10:32 p.m.
This is great news for Thurston and Ann Arbor Pubic Schools! I can't think of a more important goal than keeping our school children safe on their trips to and from school. Kids deserve all the best we can provide.
Mike
Thu, Dec 23, 2010 : 4:54 p.m.
We can't even fix the Stadium bridge near the University of Michigan yet we can find money for bicycle bridges over US-23, traffic calming projects in neighborhoods, and money to improve walking/bicycling? We're spending money we don't have (can you say trillion dollar deficit?)on items we don't need while we don't spend money on items we need. Am I missing some train of logic here?