By Jason Klaiber
Staff Writer
At the May 13 meeting, the Fayetteville Village Board of Trustees approved a Safe Routes to School project.
The Safe Routes to School program encourages students to walk and bicycle to school while enabling them to do so in a safe and appealing way.
Using a $775,000 federal grant administered by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT), the village will finish creating a system of sidewalks running through the municipality while adding handicap accessibility in the village’s main center and reconstructing the sidewalks and flexi-pave in Beard Park.
“It’s a win-win for everybody involved,” Mayor Mark Olson said. “It’s very important that the children in our village have a safe way to walk to school.”
A pedestrian bridge over Bishops Brook, set to cost $248,645, will be an add-on to the Safe Routes project.
Olson said every resident in the village will be able to safely access sidewalks after the roughly $903,000 project wraps up.
Because the cost estimate is expected to exceed the federal grant, Olson said the village will send an application to Assemblyman Al Stirpe for an available intermodal transportation grant.
The village’s fire department, police department and school district have presided over safety training sessions teaching students how to walk to school and ride their bikes in a safe manner.
For this installment of the Safe Routes to School program, the village will hire crossing guards to supervise students heading to school.
The program encourages exercise and keeps pedestrians from being struck by vehicles.
“If they’re off the road, they’re a lot safer,” Olson said.
A focus on walking and bicycling ensures avoidance of traffic congestion as well.
“We’re hoping that less and less cars have to take kids to school now,” Olson said.
He said the program also leads to students fostering greater friendships with those walking beside them, spending more time outdoors and shopping at community business locations along the way.
According to Olson, residents around the village have initially objected to sidewalk placement but end up changing their minds.
“Those complaints have kind of gone away,” he said. “The safety of the students has overshadowed anything else.”
Olson said the program exists through taxes, requiring no additional cost from residents.
NYSDOT will adhere to state road guidelines, which include exact width measurements between the concrete sidewalks and the edges of the road.
The Village of Fayetteville Department of Public Works will be employing the use of sidewalk plows whenever the ground is hit with three inches of snow or more.
