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Walking to school could become safer Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Because there is no sidewalk, Howard Elementary School students must walk on Mace Road to get to class � and drivers must try to avoid hitting them. City officials hope to get a $250,000 state grant to help pay for sidewalks here and on Howard Street nearby. Medford seeks grant to build sidewalks in school zones By Jessica Smith Candee Tinnin makes the short drive to Howard Elementary School every morning and afternoon rather than let her sons walk the 10-minute route. It takes time out of her day, and traffic can be a pain, but Tinnin is much happier knowing her boys, Levi and Luke, will make it to school safely. Improvements total $3.3 million Public works engineers identified some $3.3 million in sidewalk improvements that would make it safer for children walking to and from Howard Elementary School. Though some roads have sidewalks, the majority do not. The city doesn�t have the money to build sidewalks on every street near the school, but engineers have developed a list of roads where improvements are most needed. Here�s a look at the estimated costs for sidewalks on the five roads that would require the most work: Howard Avenue � $448,400 Berrydale Avenue � $446,000 Mace Road � $384,2000 Ellen Avenue (a county road) � $365,200 Midway Road � $294,400 "I can honestly say I�ve almost hit kids on the road," Tinnin said. "When there�s a group of them, they spread out and they don�t see you (the driver)." But Tinnin and others say they can�t blame children for being in the roads. There�s no place else for them to walk. That could change, if the city wins a $250,000 grant from the Oregon Department of Transportation to build sidewalks on two major routes to Howard Elementary. The grant would give the city a start on its Safe School Walk Zones, a program intended to improve pedestrian routes around Medford schools to make them safer for children. The program focuses for now on Howard and Washington elementary schools, two in a couple of Medford�s oldest neighborhoods. The schools � both with boundaries less than a mile in diameter � do not bus children. That means they walk or get rides from parents. At Howard school alone, city engineers identified some $3.3 million in potential sidewalk improvements. At Washington, improvements are expected to cost about $910,000. The city simply doesn�t have the money to make all the improvements, said Alex Georgevitch, a Medford transportation manager. Development fees collected from commercial and residential projects pay for improvements on the city�s bigger streets. There�s no public funding for sidewalks on residential roads, which are considered the responsibility of homeowners in a 1913 city ordinance. A grant from ODOT would help, however. City officials will know in May whether the state will approve the $250,000 grant for sidewalks in the Howard school area. That project is considered a priority because of the overall extent of improvements needed. The grant � combined with $50,000 set aside by the city and $2,000 from the Medford school district � would pay to install sidewalks on portions of the south side of Mace Road and the east side of Howard Avenue. Sharon Charles, principal at Howard, said sidewalks on Mace and Howard � which most kids use to get to school � likely would cut down on the number of parents who feel compelled to chauffeur their children. "Our traffic in the morning and afternoon is just horrendous," Charles said. "It�s hard to get in and out of the school. Traffic is just backed up." Parents can�t park and are typically forced to circle around the parking lot or the block, she added. Tinnin said she would be more inclined to let her children walk to school if sidewalks were in place. "Anything is better than what we have now," she said. City public works engineers have completed studies for each of the Medford district�s 14 elementary schools. Eventually, the studies will become a part of the city�s transportation system plan, which sets out policies for road construction and improvements. There�s no information, though, on how much it would cost to make sidewalk improvements throughout the school district, Georgevitch said. And paying for the improvements is still an unknown, he added. "(The studies) give us the information," Georgevitch said. "Now we have to start looking for the resources." Reach reporter Jessica Smith at 776-4481, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.