A Safer Route Coming Around Edwards Elementary School - 01/05/21
(NEWBERG, OR) – The City of Newberg has received a $122,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation to implement elements from the Edwards Elementary Safe Routes to School Plan, drafted in the summer of 2020. The plan aims to improve the safety of students and reduce barriers for students walking and biking to school. The City of Newberg partnered with the Newberg School District, Yamhill County, the Oregon Department of Transportation, and the wider community to write Phase 1 of the plan. Phase 2 will take place once students are back to in person learning environment and staff and consultants can observe traffic patterns and issues when students arrive to and leave school.
Safe Routes to School (SRTS) is a program in Oregon that aims to make schools and communities safer by combining improvements in pedestrian transportation with education and activities to enable and encourage students to walk and bicycle to school. SRTS plans not only improve safety, they also encourage physical activity, increase access to school, and reduce traffic congestion and motor vehicle emissions near schools.
With the received grant, the City is now able to move to the next step of the project with an estimated timeline of scoping and planning for the project until mid-August 2021, creating final plans and securing contracts by the end of January 2022, and completing the project in summer of 2022.
"Overall, there were 99 Safe Routes to School applications and they all addressed barriers to students walking and biking with needed safety improvements," said LeeAnne Fergason, ODOT Safe Routes to School Infrastructure Program Manager. "The awarded funds will focus on Title I (low-income) schools and, of course, locations with the greatest safety needs."
The Edwards Elementary Safe Routes to School Plan includes the construction of pedestrian crossing signs, stop signs, curb ramps, crosswalk marking, and adding missing sidewalks for students of Edwards Elementary. The grant funds the installation of pedestrian crossing signs along E Sixth Street, stop signs at E Sixth Street and S River Street, construction of curb ramps along E Sixth Street, S Blaine Street, and S River Street, and fillings gaps in sidewalks along S Blain Street. These improvements will not only make a safer path to Edwards Elementary, but will also increase walkability in the neighborhoods, giving families and individuals a safer route to downtown Newberg.
To learn more about the project and read the Edwards Elementary Safe Routes to School plan, visit https://www.newbergoregon.gov/planning/page/edwards-elementary-safe-routes-school-plan. For more information about the project, email Project Manager Brett Musick at brett.musick@newbergoregon.gov.
***
To hear more news from the City of Newberg, follow along on Facebook, Twitter, or at the City Website: www.NewbergOregon.gov
