Safe Routes to School benefit St Johns

Florida Department of Transportation District Safety Engineer Scott Lent, informed local St. Johns County reporters at Historic City News that walking to school will soon become a safer option for students at Switzerland Middle and Hickory Creek Elementary schools.

Construction began this week on a new five-foot wide sidewalk as part of the national Safe Routes to School initiative. New walkways will be built east of SR-13 and will extend from Remington Forest Drive to Greenbriar Road; where they will connect with the existing sidewalk leading to the two schools.

The construction of this half-mile sidewalk, funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration, should be finished this spring at a cost of $214,375.

The goals of the Safe Routes to School program are to enable and encourage children, including those with disabilities, to walk and bicycle to school; to make the trip to school safer and more appealing; and to facilitate planning, development and implementation of projects that will improve safety, and reduce traffic, fuel consumption and air pollution in the vicinity of schools.