The Wheels On The Bus Go ... Walk, Walk, Walk!

Written by 5 Healthy Towns Foundation Staff

5 Healthy Towns Foundation (5HF) and our partners have been busy looking at ways to make it easier, safer, and more enjoyable for students and their families in our service area to walk, ride, and roll their way to school.

In June, Chelsea completed the Safe Routes to School planning process with experts from Michigan State University and Michigan Safe Routes to School. Representatives from Chelsea School District, the City of Chelsea, Chelsea Police Department, 5 Healthy Towns Foundation, Main Street Park Alliance, Michigan Department of Transportation, non-motorized transportation advocates, local residents and parents of students weighed in about five potential routes that could be improved in the near future with grant funding. These improvements include filling gaps in Chelsea’s sidewalk network, addressing pedestrian crossings, adding speed signs to heavily trafficked routes to encourage motorists to slow down, and more.

The improvements go beyond engineering – the planning process also defines strategies to encourage and educate the public on non-motorized alternatives for families to get to school and evaluate ways to keep improving the program. These recommendations include walking school buses, bike safety education, adding additional bike racks to school buildings, and finding ways that families can get more familiar with designated routes to school.

As Chelsea prepares its next steps in the planning process, Grass Lake and Stockbridge will take their first. Both communities will partner with MSU and Michigan Safe Routes to School.

The process involves a series of three meetings where the local SR2S teams examine identified routes to local school buildings, make recommendations on how to connect or improve those routes, and then produce an action plan that can be used during grant writing. Potential grant funding includes infrastructure funding up to $300,000 and non-infrastructure funding of $15,000 for every identified K-12 school building included in the planning process.

“Since 2014, 5 Healthy Towns Foundation has been able to leverage local Wellness Coalition funding into more than $1 million in infrastructure improvements in Chelsea, Dexter and Manchester,” said 5HF Regional Planning Manager Matt Pegouskie. “We believe our partnerships with local stakeholders could bring in an additional $2.5-$3 million in the upcoming years. These improvements, along with the hard work of community advocates, help us make it safer and more fun for students and their families to start their days with some fresh air and reduce congestion around the school campuses.”

Chelsea’s Walk to School Wednesday program returns for its 7th school year for its 7th school year on Wednesday, October 1st.

Chelsea District Library will host a remote drop-off location for students and parents who want to walk to Beach Middle School and South Meadows Elementary School. 5 Healthy Towns will host a remote drop-off location for North Creek Elementary School students. Both locations’ walking school buses leave for school at 7:30 am. For more information about weather updates, themed walks and other news, like the Chelsea Walk to School Wednesday Facebook page.