Village of Beverly awarded Safe Routes to Schools grants
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On Wednesday, State Representative Kevin Ritter (R-Marietta) announced the Village of Beverly was recently awarded grant funding from the Safe Routes to Schools program to support infrastructure projects designed to increase safety for K-12 students walking and biking to and from school.
Beverly received $500,000 to improve sidewalk conditions, increase visibility through lighting updates, and implement other traffic calming efforts along State Route 60 in front of Fort Frye Local schools.
“The Village of Beverly is a great partner with the district and works hard to ensure that the streets and other public access ways and resources are well maintained and safe for our students, staff and community,” said Superintendent Stephanie Starcher.
"This project will improve the safety of our students while also supporting their overall health and wellbeing by encouraging them to incorporate active habits into their daily lives by walking and biking to and from school," Ritter said.
The Safe Routes to School program provides resources, technical assistance and project funding to encourage and enable students in grades K-12 to walk or ride their bike to school, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation website.
The program includes both infrastructure and non-infrastructure countermeasures and programs and is funded at $5 million annually for projects. Funds are available for:
Infrastructure projects within two miles of schools serving K-12 students. ODOT will reimburse up to 100% of eligible costs for all phases, including preliminary engineering, detailed design, right-of-way, construction, and construction engineering.
Non-infrastructure activities such as education, encouragement, enforcement or evaluation. Non-infrastructure funding may be requested for assistance with the development of plans. ODOT will reimburse up to 100% of eligible costs for items such as training and materials, program supplies, small safety and education incentives, and public awareness campaigns.
In total, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and the Ohio Department of Transportation awarded $8.8 million to support projects across the state.
For more information, contact Representative Ritter's office at rep94@ohiohouse.gov.