By: Timothy Kays
At their December 7 regular session, members of the Bryan City Council adopted an ordinance authorizing Mayor Carrie Schlade to enter into an agreement with DGL Consulting Engineers, LLC for Engineering Design Services for the Safe Routes to School Project.
The Safe Routes to School program provides funding for sidewalks, road signs and other measures to help children get to and from school in safety. The Safe Routes to School (SRTS) program, according to the Maumee Valley Planning Organization (MVPO), is a federally funded program for grades K-8, designed to inspire local action to initiate safe, convenient, and fun opportunities for children to bicycle and walk to and from school.
In 2019, the MVPO undertook studies to determine the safety of pedestrian and bicycle travel in the area of the Bryan City Schools campus at 1301 Center Street and 1000 West Fountain Grove Drive. A SRTS Team representing diverse sectors of the Bryan City School District met to develop a SRTS Travel Plan for Bryan Elementary and Middle Schools.
According to the MVPO report, “The Bryan City Safe Routes to School Team envisions a safe, secure, and connected non-motorized transportation system that will enable kids to walk and bike to school. The Team goals included:
•Improve infrastructure to support increased travel of students walking and biking to school;
•Increase awareness of safe, non-motorized travel behavior through educational programs and partnerships;
•Enhance the overall safety and security of walkers and bicyclists;
•Create interest in walking and biking by directly involving students in activities and campaigns for increasing non-motorized travel; and
•Ensure progress of the Safe Routes to School Program by evaluating effectiveness annually and expanding partnerships.”
Crash report data from a two-mile radius of the school campus for the five years prior to the study noted that there were 19 total crashes in the study area during the specified timeframe. There were no fatalities reported, but there were 16 injuries attributed to the crashes. 8 of these crashes involved bicycles, and 11 involved pedestrians.
The MVPO assisted in the submission of an ODOT grant application for the Safe Routes travel plan. Over $400,000 in non-match funding has been made available for infrastructure work and planning, with bidding projected to begin in 2023, and a target construction start date of 2023 or 2024.
Amongst the areas planned for sidewalks are West South Street from Markey Drive east to Main Street.
New sidewalks are also planned for Fountain Grove Drive from the campus area east to Markey Drive, then north on Markey Drive from Fountain Grove Drive to Center Street. There are also plans for new sidewalks connecting the elementary and middle/high school buildings to Barrister Drive and Cardinal Drive on the northeast side of the campus, going east down Cardinal to Markey Drive.
Council selected Maumee-based DGL on the recommendation of City Engineer, Brian Wieland. The determination to choose DGL over the three other firms that applied for the project came on the strength of their understanding of the project, their background and experience on similar projects, and their past performance in work undertaken for City of Bryan.
Tim can be reached at tim@thevillagereporter.com