CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (October 5, 2022) – The National Center for Safe Routes to School is pleased to award the City of Cincinnati and the City of Atlanta grants through its pilot program of quick build projects to improve road safety for youth. Funded by General Motors (GM), this program offers grants of up to $10,000 to communities to fund low-cost, quick build infrastructure improvements to provide immediate safety benefits in underserved areas where children walk and bike.
“We are thrilled to be partnering with GM to support communities in creating safe spaces for children to walk and roll,” said Nancy Pullen-Seufert, Director, National Center for Safe Routes to School, UNC Highway Safety Research Center. “Cincinnati and Atlanta have designed projects that will shed light on how we can best work with communities to accomplish much needed safety improvements through low-cost, community-driven quick build projects.”
The National Center for Safe Routes to School received funding from GM to award up to two communities grants in 2022 to implement demonstration projects using low-cost materials to alter a street to calm traffic and/or provide space for people, especially youth, to walk or bike.
“GM is proud to support the National Center for Safe Routes to School as they work to improve road safety for young people across the country,” said Hal Garling, Vehicle & Road Safety program officer at GM. “This work starts at the community level, and we know the infrastructure improvements and projects funded by these grants in Cincinnati and Atlanta will make a difference for the youth of these communities.”
The City of Cincinnati will use the grant funding to add colored thermoplastic “curb extensions” to the crosswalk area on Linn Street at Chestnut Street, a walking route for children traveling between Hays-Porter School—a school that serves approximately 350 students, including 260 walkers—and the Lincoln Recreation Center. This curb extension will extend the sidewalk into the parking lane, making pedestrians more visible to motorists and shortening the distance and time to cross the street. Several plastic bollards will also be installed to vertically delineate the curb extension space and a parking space will be removed to provide more visibility for the crosswalk. Linn Street is a large arterial street that is slated to be redesigned in the next few years, so this quick-build project is intended to help improve safety in the near-term. The project is scheduled to be implemented before Walk & Roll to School Day on October 12, 2022.
The City of Atlanta will use the grant funding to create a protected walk/bike lane for the 700 students of Crawford Long Middle School on Empire Boulevard in the Glenrose Heights neighborhood. The bike/walk lane will provide a safer pathway to and from Long Middle School, which sits within the city’s designated equity priority area. A pop-up demonstration of the pathway is scheduled to take place on October 19, 2022, at Long Middle School’s Walk & Roll to School Day celebration. The project is scheduled to be implemented by December 2022.
“Designing safe streets for children to walk, bike, and roll to school aligns with the Atlanta Department of Transportation’s mission of providing more equitable mobility options,” said Marsha Anderson-Bomar, Interim Commissioner for the City of Atlanta Department of Transportation (ATLDOT). “We’re excited to see projects come to life with support from the National Center for Safe Routes to School and the added benefits they bring to families in the Southwest Atlanta neighborhood. Pilot programs such as this help spark change and address the needs of our most vulnerable road users in the city, including our youth. Designing for children is designing cities that work better for everyone.”
Updates on these projects will be posted at www.visionzeroforyouth.org.
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National Center for Safe Routes to School
Established in 2006, the National Center for Safe Routes to School helps communities change their culture around safe and active travel. Its role includes national coordination and technical assistance for US Walk & Roll to School Day and Bike & Roll to School Day, and providing tools, training, research and evaluation for safe walking and bicycling for children and youth. The National Center for Safe Routes to School served as US Federal Highway Administration’s clearinghouse for the federal SRTS program for eleven years. It is located at the UNC Highway Safety Research Center, hsrc.unc.edu.
