Grant aims to up appeal of walking to school

The city of Charlottesville is getting $328,280 as part of the statewide Safe Routes to School program, designed to make bicycling and walking to school safer and more appealing for students from kindergarten through eighth grade.

Charlottesville’s funding is part of a package of more than $1 million for 13 school systems, local governments and not-for-profit groups, Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine announced Thursday.

The money for the city is designed to fund infrastructure projects, which can include pedestrian and bicycle crossings, sidewalks, signs and traffic-calming improvements.

The Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation for Charlottesville and Albemarle County will also receive $50,000 to develop and implement local programs.

“Walking and biking to school offers a host of benefits to students, communities and the environment,” Kaine said in a statement.

City spokesman Ric Barrick said this is the third year Charlottesville has received funding from the program. For Virginia, Safe Routes to School has budgeted $13.2 million in grants to give to various localities over five years. Funded by the Federal Highway Administration and dispensed by the Virginia Department of Transpor-tation, it started in fiscal 2005.

“We’ve already picked up close to a million bucks from this program,” Barrick said. Last year, the city got roughly $370,000 to install more bike paths and trails around Venable Elementary School and Buford Middle School.

This year, Barrick said, the city will use the money to increase walkability around Burnley-Moran Elementary School.

“There’s a lot of potential for kids to not have to ride school buses and instead walk from home,” said Barrick, referring to the Locust Grove neighborhood where the school is located. Barrick said the funds most likely will be used to install sidewalks and crosswalks.