Meeting update:
The two Saturday meetings have been canceled due to bad weather.
The meeting planned for Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Firestone-Litchfield Community Learning Center at 470 Castle Blvd. in Akron is still scheduled.
Another meeting has been added for Jan. 31 at 6 p.m. at the auditorium of Ellet CLC at 309 Woolf Ave. in Akron.
The City of Akron is seeking money to improve sidewalks, crosswalks and curbs to make it easier for students to walk or bike to school.
As part of the process, the city is updating a nine-year-old school travel plan designed to improve safety for students who aren’t provided transportation to get to class. This includes students who live within two miles of Akron’s 46 public schools. Beginning this week, the city will hold four public meetings to get feedback from residents about what improvements should be made.
The school travel plan update will allow Akron to apply for money from the Ohio Department of Transportation, which allows for grants of $500,000 for infrastructure improvements that will make it easier for students to get to school and $120,000 over two years to create plans and policies that are sustainable beyond the initial funding period.
Stephanie Marsh, a spokesperson for the City of Akron, said she’s hoping to hear from residents about missing bike racks, crosswalks or other areas of improvement that could make getting to school easier for students.
“Those are the kinds of things we’re looking to hear,” Marsh said.
Marsh said she expects to learn whether Akron received the money by the end of June; the grant application is due March 1. In other districts, plowing sidewalks in the winter and easing congestion near schools were cited as actions that could make it easier for children to travel to school safely, according to a draft Akron Metropolitan Area Transportation Study from May.
That study said no local districts have updated Safe Routes to School plans, but they could be prioritized to make it easier for students to bike or walk. Marsh said over the course of the coronavirus pandemic, more students have found other ways to get to school, including by car.
Akron’s last plan cited concerns about violence and crime, the distance students needed to cover, and safe crossings as primary concerns that kept students from walking or biking to school. Other concerns included the speed and volume of traffic along pedestrian routes.
Not all of the recommendations from the last plan, in 2015, were implemented, Marsh said, so the city has ideas about what areas might need to be improved. High-injury areas of the city that are identified are also likely to be priorities.
In an email, Debra Foulk, the executive director of business affairs for the school district, said transportation planning would not affect redistricting for the schools. The district is not involved in the safe routes planning because the streets and crossings are city property.
Akron Superintendent Michael Robinson declined a request for comment about the plan. In a statement, Robinson said the safety of students was the “highest concern” for the district, and he praised the district’s partnership with Mayor Shammas Malik.
Malik, in a statement, said he was looking forward to continuing the partnership with Akron Public Schools.
The community meetings will include a presentation about the plan, information about safety issues and time for residents to give feedback. Residents can also submit feedback online.
The meetings will be:
- Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Ellet Community Learning Center Auditorium at 309 Woolf Ave.
- Saturday at 11 a.m. at the East CLC Auditorium at 80 Brittain Rd.
- Saturday at 1:45 p.m. at the Innes CLC Cafeteria at 1999 East Ave.
- Jan. 24 at 6 p.m. at the Firestone-Litchfield CLC at 470 Castle Blvd.
