City closer to grant application

Safe Routes to School would be 1st for Lorain

The city of Lorain is getting closer to its first grant request to improve conditions for students who walk or ride bikes to school.

Lorain City Council on Jan. 2 authorized staff to seek up to $500,000 for the Safe Routes to School program of the Ohio Department of Transportation.

The city would pursue the grant in conjunction with the Active Transportation Plan Committee that began meeting in February 2017.

The staff from the city and Lorain City Schools, with the Lorain County General Health District and transportation workers, aim to make Lorain safer for active transportation, or human-powered travel on foot, bikes, skates

and generally without using a car.

That committee is scheduled to meet again Jan. 5 and twice in February to refine a plan for the city’s grant application. The request is due March 5.

The city legislation included a list of 91 projects that could improve conditions for walkers and cyclists heading to Lorain Schools or anywhere around the city.

Many of the projects would create “community walking routes” or “school walking routes” along streets at various Lorain locations, according to the list in Council’s legislation.

Examples of improvements could include curb ramps that make it easier to push strollers or wheelchairs, or ride bikes, without having to get up a sixinch high curb, said Veronica Newsome, engineer in Lorain’s City Engineering Department.

Newsome spoke about the projects with Lorain City Engineer Dale Vandersommen.

Other work could include signage for street crosswalks; bike lane improvements; and adding sidewalks to areas of the city without them, she said.

It was unclear exactly how much all the projects would cost, Newsome said.

If ODOT awards a grant to Lorain, it likely would be for improvements in fiscal year 2022, meaning the money could pay for work starting October 2021, she said.

“We’re talking longrange planning here,” Newsome said.

The city resolution states if Lorain gets the grant but it does not cover the full cost of the work, the city could pay for improvements with money from its street repair levy, gas tax money, permissive tax fund, loans from ODOT’s State Infrastructure Bank or other funding deemed appropriate.

However, the resolution did not commit a specific dollar amount to any Safe Routes to School projects.