DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Leaders in Daytona Beach have approved a plan to improve safety for students walking and riding their bicycles near two school campuses.
During a meeting on Wednesday, commissioners authorized directing federal grant money toward the Campbell Middle School and Turie T. Small Elementary School Safe Routes to School Project.
At a price tag of $1.8 million, the project would improve neighborhood sidewalks around the two schools.
“Now that the funding is in place, the project will go out to bid for construction. It’s still several months away from actually building sidewalks,” a Daytona Beach spokesperson said in a statement.
[Watch video below to hear from parents on why sidewalk improvements are needed]
The proposed improvements include five, six, and eight-foot-wide sidewalks, reduction of lane widths on South Street, Keech Street, and Cedar Street, along with construction of two raised sidewalks near the schools.
[Watch video below to hear student describe recent near-miss]
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Sarah Wilson, whose daughter is a sixth grader at Campbell Middle School, said the changes are needed to reduce the risk for children when they go to and from campus.
“The sidewalks, I feel like if there was more room for them to walk and be children, that would be wonderful,” Wilson said. “Safety is my number one concern. I hope it would be the same for everyone else.”
$1,839,517 would be paid through federal funding and $25,000 would be covered by local funding, according to the plan.