Sixteen projects to make walking and bicycling to school safer within the NJTPA region will receive almost $14 million through the state’s Safe Routes to School program.
Overall, the
New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) awarded 23 grants totaling $21.1 million through the federally-funded program to increase pedestrian safety among motorists and schoolchildren. SRTS is administered by the NJDOT in partnership with the NJTPA, Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission and the South Jersey Transportation Planning Organization.
“The Murphy Administration is committed improving safety by providing resources to improve sidewalks and bike paths near schools,” NJDOT Commissioner Fran O’Connor, who sits on the NJTPA Board of Trustees, said
in a press release announcing the awards. “The Safe Routes to School program encourages children to stay active by walking and biking to school, and is a great example of how NJDOT, working with the state’s three regional planning authorities, helps utilize federal funding to support communities through local transportation projects.”
Infrastructure improvement projects to be funded through this program include sidewalk upgrades, pedestrian and bicycle crossings, and on-street bicycle facilities. Special consideration was given to applications that addressed equity by providing benefits to underserved communities, low-income residents, minorities, those with limited English proficiency, persons with disabilities, children, and older adults.
The goal of the program is to make bicycling and walking to school a safer and more appealing transportation alternative, encouraging a healthy and active lifestyle from an early age. Projects are designed to improve safety, reduce traffic, fuel consumption and air pollution near schools.
NJDOT received 62 eligible applications in the NJTPA’s 13-county region, awarding 16 top-scoring projects with $13.996 million in funding. The NJTPA Board of Trustees approved the following grant awards during its
meeting on Monday:
- Teaneck: Pedestrian Bridge over CSX Railroad Project, $1.5 million
- Rockaway: Pedestrian Safety & Connectivity Improvement, Copeland Middle & Stony Brook Elementary School Complex, $1.199 million
- Berkeley Heights: Mountain Avenue Sidewalk Project, $1.27 million
- Passaic: Parker Avenue and Van Buren Street Improvements Project, $1.089 million
- Freehold: Freehold Safe Routes to School Project, $972,000
- West Orange: Gregory Avenue and Lowell Avenue Safe Routes to School Project, $966,000
- Belleville: Belleville Public Schools Pedestrian Safety Project, $962,000
- Orange: Lincoln Avenue School Pedestrian Safety Improvements Project, $912,000
- Little Egg Harbor: Sidewalk Safety Improvements to Frog Pond Road, Railroad Avenue, and Parkertown Drive, $800,000
- Bridgewater: Garretson Road and Easton Turnpike Pedestrian Improvements, $768,000
- Keyport: Maple Place, West 4th Street, St. Peter’s Place and St. George Place, Safe Routes to School Improvements, $749,000
- Point Pleasant: Proposed Sidewalk near Ocean Road Elementary School, $725,000
- Nutley: Nutley Schools Intersection Improvement Project, $557,000
- New Providence: Various Bike Route Improvements, $534,000
- High Bridge: Fairview Avenue and Church Street., $530,000
- Essex County: New traffic signal at Lakeside Avenue (County Route 636) and Pease Avenue in Verona, $436,000