WES, GMS receive $200,000 grants for Safe Routes » The Georgetown Times / Georgetown County, SC Community News Paper

WES, GMS receive $200,000 grants for Safe Routes

From left, Mark Hoeweler, Planning Director at the Waccamaw Regional Council of Governments; Vida Miller, Representative for South Carolina House Seat 108; Georgetown County School District Risk and Property Manager Kelly Kelley; GCSD Superintendent Dr. Randy Dozier; Chris Clark, GSATS Transportation Planner at the Waccamaw Regional Council of Governments; and GCSD Safety and Energy Associate David Adams.

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Published on 10/11/2008

Waccamaw Elementary School and Georgetown Middle School have been selected to receive $200,000 each in Safe Routes to School funding. The awarding of funding was announced recently at the Grand Strand Area Transportation Study Committee meeting, chaired by Rep. Miller.

Miller applauds the efforts of each of these schools along with the assistance of SC Department of Transportation, Waccamaw Regional Council of Government and the Georgetown County School District in applying for the funding.

Representative Miller introduced the legislation creating South Carolina's SRTS Program and allowing access to the federal funding created by Congress in 2005. SRTS enables and encourages children, including those with disabilities, to safely walk and bicycle to and from school. SCDOT has created a SRTS office which will help administer grants to schools and communities promoting safe walking and bike paths to schools, safe havens for children and promotion of physical well being.

SCDOT's Safe Routes to School Program assists schools and communities in the planning, development, and implementation of projects and activities that will improve safety and reduce traffic, fuel consumption, and air pollution in the vicinity of schools while promoting a healthy lifestyle for children and their parents. Selected schools will be required to design a comprehensive Safe Routes to School Plan specific to that school.

Miller was selected by the SC Governor's Council on Physical Fitness to receive the Public Policy Award in 2006 based on the Safe Routes to School legislation she introduced. The legislation was endorsed by the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control and the SC Department of Transportation.

I think one idea for Georgetown Middle School (which would work for GHS as well) is an overhead crosswalk crossing Antwan Maybank Highway. The one in Kingstree seems to work fine and allows the kids a safe walk to school without having to cross that busy highway in the morning and afternoon. I think this would really help the kids and there would be no need for a traffic officer on that road. It is awful going through there when school is letting out in the afternoon, there are kids crossing the street at all points of that road. They should be required to walk the sidewalk to the crosswalk and not be allowed to cross the street. Just an idea.

Posted by MDS425 on 10/14/2008

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