IDOT Awards Columbia $70,000 for Pedestrian Safety

The City of Columbia will receive $70,000 from the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) to install fixed speed feedback signs on Main St. near Immaculate Conception School and Parkview Elementary School. The award was part of $13.1 million in Safe Routes to School grants announced yesterday by Governor Pat Quinn.

171 projects were funded in almost 90 communities across Illinois, including Columbia, ranging from sidewalk repair to safety training for students to equipment for police and crossing guards. The federally-funded program is designed to enable and encourage children to walk and bike to school.

“This grant request and the School Safety Plan that led up to it were a true community partnership,” Columbia Mayor Kevin Hutchinson observed. Both elements of the application process were assembled by a steering committee that included city and school district officials along with representatives from the Monroe County YMCA, Helmets First! and other groups.

The Illinois Safe Routes To School (SRTS) program applies to schools serving grades Kindergarten through 8th. SRTS encourages a holistic approach to make it safer and more practical for children to walk to school, using the Five E’s: engineering, encouragement, education, enforcement and encouragement. IDOT Secretary Gary Hannig indicated that competition for funding was especially keen this year, with the agency receiving almost 200 applications adding up to $27.9 million in requests.

“This innovative program reaches out to our youth, instilling in them the healthy habits of physical activity,” said Governor Quinn. “With Illinois ranked fourth in the nation for childhood obesity rates, providing children with a safe and secure means of walking to school is an important tool to improve the health of our children.”

Safe Routes to School is a program of the U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration. The program is designed to:

• Enable and encourage children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school;
• Make bicycling and walking to school a safer and more appealing transportation option, encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle from an early age; and
• Facilitate projects and activities that will improve safety and reduce traffic, fuel consumption, and air pollution in the vicinity of primary and middle schools.