Summary In an effort to encourage and enable the City of Alachua’s children to walk and bike to school, the City of Alachua staff requests to submit a grant application to the Florida Safe Routes to School Program to implement infrastructure improvements in the form of a 2,650 foot sidewalk along U.S Highway 441 to benefit Santa Fe High School and 2,350 feet of sidewalk within the Hunter Woods neighborhood to connect to the existing sidewalk on CR 241 to benefit Irby Elementary School.
Safe Routes to School (SRTS) programs are sustained efforts by parents, schools, community leaders and local, state, and federal governments to improve the health and well-being of children by enabling and encouraging them to walk and bicycle to school.
SRTS programs examine conditions around schools and conduct projects and activities that improve safety and reduce traffic and air pollution in the vicinity of schools. As a result, these programs make bicycling and walking to school a safer and more appealing transportation choice, thus encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle from an early age. In addition to improving safety for children, Safe Routes to School programs can benefit a community’s quality of life by reducing traffic congestion and motor vehicle emissions while increasing opportunities to be more physically active and connect with neighbors. As a result, SRTS programs can improve safety for all pedestrians and bicyclists in the community.
This is a 100% FDOT funded program, which means that no match is required. Furthermore, the Center for Health and the Built Environment at the University of Florida has been assisting the City in completing the grant application to FDOT for this project at no cost to the City. |