The Colorado Department of Transportation’s federally funded Safe Routes to School program aims to encourage more students to walk, bike or roll to school by increasing pedestrian safety.
Cañon City is receiving $1 million to improve the connection between the middle and high school. They’ll also upgrade signage and crosswalks to improve links between several of the district’s schools.
La Veta School District is planning to build an ADA-compliant sidewalk to connect its new pre–K–12 school to the downtown area using the program funding.
According to a press release, the Colorado Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School is designed to increase pedestrian safety and awareness for both motorists and students by supporting safe, accessible active transportation routes to and from school, as well as through educational programming.
This year, the program’s maximum award increased from $750,000 to $1 million in order to help cover rising costs.
Due to the passage of the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, this funding now includes high schools, as well as elementary and middle schools.
Several projects, including Cañon City’s and La Veta’s, are funded without a matching requirement.
Eleven communities throughout the state are receiving funds from Colorado’s Safe Routes to School Program. Here’s the project list and description as provided by the Colorado Department of Transportation:
Infrastructure Grants
- Cañon City: $1 million with no match requirement to improve a key corridor serving as the direct connection between the high school and middle school. Additionally, the project aims to improve school zone safety with upgraded signage and pedestrian crosswalks that facilitate the movement of K-12 students between the three school campuses.
- City and County of Denver: $838,045 to enhance safe routes for Stanley British Primary School by installing a Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon at the busy Quebec Street and E. 4th Avenue intersection. The project also incorporates pedestrian improvements such as curb ramps and a pedestrian refuge island and School Zone enhancements, including updated signage, striping, and school zone flashing beacons.
- La Veta School District: $875,625 with no match requirement toward construction of an ADA-compliant sidewalk connecting downtown La Veta to its new Pre-Kindergarten through Grade 12 school. This infrastructure will enable safe access to both school and downtown educational resources.
- Paonia: $872,825 with no match requirement to provide safe routes for students to walk, bike, and roll to and from the local elementary school while also offering a means for students to walk to the River Park for school outings.
- Lakewood: $793,450 toward improving safe, accessible routes for students of Stober Elementary School through the construction of two detached sidewalks, ADA-compliant ramps, and a traffic calming device at a crucial intersection.
- Basalt: $573,200 to construct a cohesive system of sidewalks, crosswalks, signage, bike lanes, and drainage in partnership with the Roaring Fork School District.
- Fort Collins: $835,000 toward roadway improvements for students walking, biking, and rolling to/from Irish Elementary School. The project will include construction of a concrete side path where no sidewalks nor bike lanes exist, an improved bike-ped crossing, a widened sidewalk, and a crosswalk in front of the school.
- Cedaredge: $387,709 with no match requirement to support students actively commuting to Cedaredge Elementary School through increased connectivity among pedestrian routes in the town. This project will replace sidewalks in disrepair and integrate them with existing sidewalks, including ADA accessible ramps at all intersections and in front of the school
- Lyons: $758,012 to support safe routes for Lyons Elementary School by adding ADA accessible bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure where none currently exists and improving two drainage inlets identified as a safety hazard.
- Johnstown: $368,953 to support safe routes for students at Elwell Elementary. The project scope will also include a High-Intensity Activated crosswalk (HAWK) system that allows for safe crossings at Colorado Boulevard.
Non-Infrastructure Grants
- City and County of Denver: $258,825 toward expanding the Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure established SRTS initiative to high schools, creating curriculum, educational modules, and engagement events.
- Town of Windsor: $178,021 to empower more children to walk, bike, and roll to school by creating safe travel plans from neighborhoods to schools, delivering bicycle and pedestrian education in physical education classes, raising awareness through public communications, and mobilizing a Task Force Coalition to sustain the initiative long term.
