An ongoing joint effort by the City of Bartlesville and Bartlesville Public School District to make school routes safer and encourage school-age children to make healthier lifestyle choices will get a big boost in funding thanks to a vote of the Bartlesville City Council on Monday.
The council voted unanimously to approve a Project Agreement for a grant through the Oklahoma Department of Transportation for funding from the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Grant Program.
The City of Bartlesville will administer the $172,800 grant, which includes $168,000 for “infrastructure” projects and $4,800 for “non-infrastructure” projects.
“The purpose of the Safe Routes to School Program is to encourage children to walk and bike to school and to make that activity safer for them,” said City of Bartlesville Grants Administrator Nancy Warring.
Four applications were submitted to ODOT for funding, but only one was approved — the Hoover-Madison application.
“Although it would have been wonderful for ODOT to approve all four applications, we are happy that they selected one of ours,” Warring said. “This is a highly competitive grant program. Our other three applications were for Jane Phillips, Kane and Wilson. We worked with the schools’ principals and their transportation staff to identify needs and develop the applications.”
The grant funds such things as education and enforcement activities, sidewalks, crosswalks and signage, Warring said.
“Infrastructure” improvements planned with the funds include:
- Installation of a sidewalk from Central Middle School, formerly Madison Middle School, north to Sooner Park
- Installation of a sidewalk along Amherst from Madison Boulevard
- Installation of a sidewalk from the back side of Madison Middle School north to the neighborhood
- Installation of a sidewalk on the south side of Hoover Elementary School, connecting Baylor pedestrian crossing to Hoover
- Additional school zone pavement markings and school zone signage on neighborhood side streets approaching schools
Planned “non-infrastructure” projects include safety talks and curriculum, increased speed and traffic enforcement, safe travel incentives, walking and biking clubs and crossing guard recruitment and training.
Now that the City Council has approved the agreement, the funds will be available immediately upon ODOT approval, Warring said.
“Safe Routes to School has been a successful program thanks to the collaboration of the City of Bartlesville and the Bartlesville Public School District,” Warring said. “These funds will allow us to not only continue the initiatives we’ve already implemented —such as ‘Walk to School Day,’ which has been held annually over the past several years — but also provide new funding for much-needed improvements to our infrastructure and educational efforts for many of our students. We’re grateful to ODOT for making these funds available.”