SV awarded $100,000 in Safe Routes funds

SPRING VALLEY - Spring Valley Elementary and the city of Spring Valley learned Wednesday they were awarded $100,000 by the Illinois Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School program, which is designed to enable and encourage local students to walk and bike to school.

“I’m ecstatic,” said Lincoln School Principal Kim Lisanby-Barber.

This was the second time Lisanby-Barber wrote the grant application for the federal program.

Things were different during the first year of the program. Applicants were encouraged to dream big, and the Spring Valley committee applied for nearly $2 million in infrastructure projects to repair sidewalks around the city’s schools.

Statewide, $77.7 million was requested for projects, but only $8.3 million was actually awarded. The only money that found its way to Bureau County was a $2,050 award to create a crossing guard training program in Princeton.

So Spring Valley tried again.

Lisanby-Barber said this year the rules were a little different, and the committee had to limit itself to only one infrastructure project. The committee chose sidewalk improvements again, this time for the John F. Kennedy facility, and another application for an enforcement grant, amounting to considerably less than the $2 million.

Once again, the sidewalk improvements were turned down, but the other project was a success.

On Wednesday, Gov. Pat Quinn announced $13.1 million in grants for 171 projects, ranging from sidewalk repair to safety training for students and equipment for police and crossing guards. This year the agency received almost 200 applications adding up to $27.9 million in requests.

Spring Valley’s $100,000 grant will provide funding for traffic control lights and signs to be installed on Route 6 near Richards Street, and should provide additional safety measures providing a safer route for students walking or riding to school.

“With the amount of traffic found on a state route such as Route 6/89, the high school traffic, J.F. Kennedy school traffic and the local volume, this grant will allow us to provide one more layer of safety for our students,” Lisanby-Barber said.

One plus for drivers is the lights will be timed and only activated at arrival and dismissal times. They are also programmable and able to be set for early dismissals and vacation times.