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Consultants map Safe Routes to School priorities; Bay Village eyes ODOT grant
Summary
Tool Design Group presented draft Safe Routes to School recommendations for Bay Village, including crosswalk upgrades, traffic calming, a pedestrian bridge assessment and bike parking. Consultant said ODOT grants can award up to $1,000,000 per community; council discussed application timing and potential city support.
A city-contracted Safe Routes to School plan update, led by Tool Design Group senior planner Katie Seab, highlighted safety barriers for walking and biking to Bay schools and proposed infrastructure and program solutions ahead of an upcoming ODOT grant round.
"We counted over 400 bikes during Bike to School Week this past year," Seab told council as she summarized outreach and observations. Her team presented four recommendation categories: crosswalk and signal upgrades (examples: Bassett/Ednell and Wolf Road/Sadler), a focused assessment of the pedestrian bridge behind Westerly Elementary, bike-route and traffic-calming concepts, and programmatic suggestions such as education and bike parking. Seab said ODOT's Safe Routes grant can provide up to $1 million per community and is flexible enough to fund design and construction in many cases.
Council members discussed whether the city or the school district should be the applicant (jurisdiction over right-of-way typically makes city-led applications more common) and whether a council resolution or small local match would help an application. Staff indicated they will finalize a draft plan for public review, prioritize candidate projects for the grant application, and return with a recommended application package.
