2008 Georgia Safe Routes to School

2008 Georgia Safe Routes to School

Infrastructure Application

Section 1 – Contact Information

Organization – City Government

Project Title – Park Creek Elementary Safe Routes to School Project

Agency Name – City of Dalton, Georgia

Project Contact Person – Bradley Scott Kotrba (NorthGeorgiaRegionalDevelopmentCenter)

Position/Title – Local and Regional / Transportation Planner

Mailing Address – 503 West Waugh Street, Dalton, Georgia, 30720

City – Dalton

State – Georgia

Zip Code – 30720

County – Whitfield

Phone – (706) 272-2300

Fax – (706) 272-2253

Email –

School 2 Name: ParkCreekElementary School

Mailing Address: 1500 Hale Bowen Drive, Dalton, Georgia, 30721

City: Dalton

County: Whitfield

School District: Dalton Public Schools

Number of projects being submitted by this agency [City of Dalton, GA] – Two (2)

Priority of this application being submitted by this agency [City of Dalton, GA] – Two (2)

Project Cost Estimate - $375,920.63

By signing, applicant attests to being authorized to sign for ______(name of agency) and that all information contained herein is true and correct to the best of his/her knowledge.

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Signature of project contact person date

Section 2 – Problem Identification [Total of 35 points]

A. Describe the current condition of biking and walking in your school area. Describe safety, traffic, health, or environmental issues that you are trying to solve through SRTS. Please attach maps, photographs, traffic counts, crash data surveys, safety audits, or any other information that help illustrate the need for this project.

Park Creek Elementary is a school that has been recently built in an expanding area of town that is populated heavily by Hispanic/Latino immigrants. Well over 70% of the schools population is Hispanic and a majority of the parents that are very active in school activities speak little or no English. So Park Creek Elementary has a unique characteristic from other schools in the area. As was mentioned before, Park Creek Elementary is a recently constructed school in a large natural park area that was owned by the City of Dalton, Georgia. When the school was constructed there were very few sidewalks within a one mile radius from the school, especially along the main street corridors in which the children and parents would be arriving from. Every morning over 100 vehicles line up in front of the door to drop off children, but because of the recent influx of first generation children to the school, many arrive by foot with their mothers from the nearby housing developments that have been catered to this new population.

Vice Principal Karen Roark, Ph.D. contacted the RDC with questions about starting a SRTS program at Park Creek because she watches mothers leading their children along the extremely busy roads carry other small children in their hands, or pushing strollers with toddlers in them, weaving in and out of dangerous traffic. She has expressed fear that these children and their parents are going to become a victim to an accident involving a motorist as they try to get to and from school. The City of Dalton, recently installed sidewalks along the east side of Veterans Parkway recently; this is a step in the right direction, but Hale Bowen Drive (map attached) does not contain any sidewalks, nor do any of the neighborhoods in which the children live.

B. Please provide the following information for each school in this application.

School Information / School 2 – Park Creek Elementary
% free/reduced lunch / 68%
% Asian / 1%
% African-American / 4%
% White/Caucasian / 19%
% Hispanic / 73%
% Native American / 0%
% Other / 3%

C. How many students enrolled in project school live within ½ mile, 1 mile, or 2 miles of the school?

School Information / School 2 – Park Creek Elementary
School Enrollment / 685
½ mile / 31
1 mile / 125
2 miles / 139
Estimated percent of current walkers and bikers. / 4%

Section 3 – Proposed Project [Total of 25 points]

A. Is all the property involved in your project within the public right-of-way?[YES]

If part of your project is on permanent public easement, do you have documentation for such easement? [YES]

B. Describe in detail your proposed infrastructure project? Please attach a map or diagram of your project(s) locations, which includes, at a minimum, street names, school name(s) and location(s), city and county names, existing traffic signals or stop signs. Also attach photographs, plans, and other materials that may help illustrate the proposed project.

Per section one of this application, it was referenced that no sidewalks exist immediately surrounding the school or in a networked fashion connecting the community with the school. Due to a growing number of pedestrians and cyclists at Park Creek Elementary 5,265 linear feet of sidewalk has been planned for the immediate neighborhood surrounding the school. Construction and updating of existing sidewalks is also proposed along these routes.

Traffic control devices such as speed bumps and signs/signals are needed along the Hale Bowen Drive corridor heading in towards the school to discourage the motorists from speeding and dodging pedestrians attempting to walk to school along the street shoulder. Because this is all publically owned land and all existing roads in the school zone have a fifty (50ft.) right-of-way most of the roads are currently curbed and guttered, with storm drainage systems already in place, the implementation of the sidewalks and crosswalks, as well as traffic control devices should be rather simple. This project is also expected to be a “first-phase” project because the Dalton Middle School exists directly across Heritage Park from Park Creek Elementary, and with the potential of Dalton Middle School becoming involved with SRTS may provide a pedestrian or bicycle pathway connection to the middle school from Hale Bowen Drive and past Park Creek Elementary School.

C. How will your proposed project(s) address the concerns that were identified in Section 2, improve bike/ped safety, increase the number of students walking to school, and improve the environment within the school vicinity?

The proposed Park Creek SRTS project will allow the roughly 4% of students navigate the treacherous motorist traffic in the mornings and afternoons, because this school has the potential to have a large pedestrian student population on a regular basis. Dr. Roark also noted that through a show of hands survey that roughly 70% of the student population would like to walk or bike to school on a regular basis. She informed the RDC that school has become a destination here for many other learning activities outside the regular school hours due to activities such as English as a second language classes, and other community education classes, that regularly have a small percentage of walkers/bikers, but who have expressed the need for safer and more accessible infrastructure facilities in the neighborhood. Many of these families are low-income and do not have the luxury of owning a second vehicle, or one at all, to allow the other parent to transport the children and themselves to and from daily activities if the primary provider is using it at work. The facilities planned in this grant application have will have a very significant impact on the students and the community alike.

Section 4 – Program Information [Total of 30 points]

Explain how your school(s) is currently addressing Education, Encouragement, Enforcement, Engineering, and Evaluation. When did the school(s) begin its SRTS activities and/or plan? How many children are involved in these activities? Is there a full-time coordinator responsible for managing these activities? If available, provide a link to your SRTS Plan.

1) Evaluation

Dr. Roark has noted that she would like to see a 10% increase in pedestrian activities within the next six to twelve months. Since the Park Creek Elementary SRTS team has just been existing for the last two months, the team is also in the process of creating a SRTS plan which will outline a process for evaluating their SRTS performance.

2) Encouragement

On Veterans’ Day 2008, November 11, the children at Park Creek Elementary participated in a Walk with the Veterans Day” in which the children at the school meet with their parents and friends at Veteran’s Park on Veterans Drive and after a ceremony at the park walked back to the school to promote walking and biking as a safe and viable option for children to get to school. This event was a huge success and there were well over 200 participants. Many more events have been scheduled for the spring when the weather begins to warm up.

3) Education

In the mean time, Park Creek staff and teachers have devoted their time creating, preparing, and teaching safe routes education events in physical education class. Activities in gym class and other activities such as know-the-road lessons are taught on campus. Park Creek is also scheduling activities for the remainder of the school year.

4) Engineering

Infrastructure projects have been proposed within this application and show (map attached) where new sidewalk locations would best suit the neighborhood due to existing traffic volumes and routes of current walkers. Park Creek Elementary is hoping that the grant applicant process will help them achieve a multi-option transportation community which low and middle income families can utilize, especially providing a safe route to school.

5) Enforcement

The Dalton Police Department has dedicated themselves to assure the safety, well-being, and safe passage of the students to and from school each and every day. They have donated time, staff, and equipment to help this cause since the program’s inception a few months ago. The Walk with the Veterans event was escorted by police officers. Every so often, the Department will set up a mobile radar-based speed monitoring trailer to show motorists what their present traveling velocity is. They also routinely provide on-site coverage and monitoring of the school zone area to assure that both pedestrians can safely get to and from school as well as motorists obey the law. These are just a few of the examples of how the local police volunteer time to assure the success of this new program in Park Creek.

Section 5 – Project Cost Estimate [Total of 10 points]

Provide the cost estimate. Include material and construction costs. All preliminary engineering will be conducted by GDOT. Note: SRTS is a 100% federal-aid program; local funds and in-kind donations are not required or accepted. Use the project cost estimate tab to complete Section 5 in the application spreadsheet. Contact your local government for assistance.

[Project cost estimate is completed and attached in the Excel spreadsheet application format only.]

[Total project cost estimate = $375,920.63]

Section 6 – Signatures [Pass-Fail Credential]

The undersigned consent to enroll school(s) with the SRTSResourceCenter, engage in Non-Infrastructure SRTS activities, and participate in GDOT’s evaluation process. The undersigned understand that the proposed infrastructure project, if granted, will be designed and implemented by Georgia Department of Transportation. Upon completion of construction, the undersigned agree to provide regular maintenance on the new infrastructure. The undersigned affirm that all statements in this application are true and complete to the best of the applicant’s knowledge. Please attach additional signature pages if necessary for multiple schools. (Signature required from local government official authorized to sign maintenance agreements or Designee.)

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Signature of City/County Engineer, Mayor, County Print name of City/County Engineer, Mayor, County

Commissioner, City Manager, etc. Commissioner, City Manager, etc.

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Name of AgencyTelephone NumberDate

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Signature of School DistrictSuperintendentPrint name of School District Superintendent

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Name of School DistrictTelephone NumberDate

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Signature of School Principal Print name of School Principal

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Name of SchoolTelephone Number Date

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