The Free Press, Mankato, MN

Local News

June 28, 2006

St. Peter seeks grant to improve school routes

Goal: To get more students walking, biking to school

By Nick Hanson

ST PETER — St. Peter hopes its students will walk or bike to school more regularly in the near future.

The city and school district recently teamed up to seek a grant. They’re asking for about $175,000 in improvements to roads, signs, crosswalks and lights immediately surrounding area schools.

The grant is part of a new program called Safe Routes to School. The federal program is a piece of a transportation bill designed to improve the conditions and quality of biking and walking to school — to combat a nationwide childhood obesity epidemic.

“The feeling is that we don’t want our kids to walk to school because it’s not safe,” said Jeff Olson, St. Peter superintendent. “(But) we want to encourage people in the residential area to walk or bike to school.”

Even though the city/district submitted a plan to the Minnesota Department of Education, which is managing the project, there are no guarantees it will get the funds that are offered statewide.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation will award $8 million in the Safe Routes program during the next five years, $1.4 million in the first.

Olson said the city did a thorough job with the plan.

“In our neighborhoods we particularly looked at ways to improve sidewalks and safety,” he said.

Key parts of the project include a major new sidewalk from Nicollet Avenue to Washington Avenue, crossing improvements at each of the schools with new signs, repainted crosswalks and some flashing warning lights.

All grant applications are due by July 6 and approvals will be announced in November or December 2006.

If St. Peter is approved, construction would likely occur in late 2007 or early 2008. Safe Routes would fund the entire project.

St. Peter schools already hosts a week in the fall to encourage students to walk and bike. That program might be expanded if the grant and project are approved, Olson said.

The plan also fits into the district’s newly adopted federal wellness policy, which encourages students to participate in physical activity outside of the school day, he said.

St. Peter School Board Chairman Terry Morrow said the funds would be beneficial to the city.

“Anything that improves the safety of the routes to schools is a great thing,” he said.

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