The city of Marietta and Marietta City School District have been awarded with the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Infrastructure Grant.
The groundwork for this milestone was laid in August of 2022 when the SRTS committee started planning this project. Updating the school travel plan, parent surveys, and the grant application were all major steps taken during this process.
Below is a full timeline from its inception up through its current stage:
- 8-15-2022 – Meeting of school and city staff
- 10-19-2022 – Consultant obtained to update school travel plan
- 11-17-2022 – Addresses requested from school
- 11-17-2022 - School radius maps requested from ODOT
- 11-21-2022 – Parent Survey and Teacher Tally sent to school
- 12-30-2022 – School radius maps received from ODOT
- 2-10-2023 – Travel Plan markups sent to consultant
- 2-27-2023 – Parent Survey Data received from ODOT
- 3-1-2023 – Required Partner signature obtained from 12 partners, including school principles
- 3-3-2023 – SRTS Application submitted to ODOT
- 3-28-2023 – Legislation and Joint Resolution sent to ODOT
- 8-8-2023 – Award letter Received from ODOT
- 8-31-2023 – Project Programing submitted to ODOT
Mayor of Marietta, Josh Schlicher, discussed the details about what this project will aim to improve. “This grant will provide for safety, accessibility and barrier improvements within the city and school properties. We are excited to upgrade sidewalks, access points and ramps that will have a direct impact on the safety of students.”
The details of the proposed and accepted improvements are listed below:
- Bike racks on Glendale Road adjacent to Marietta Elementary.
- Improved pedestrian crossing facilities at Marietta High School on both Academy Drive and Davis Avenue
- Installation of Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacons (RRFB) at the intersection of Academy Drive and Colegate Drive, crossing at Colegate Drive
- Brick sidewalk repair, on 4th Street, from Warren Street to Camp Avenue
These are welcome changes for Marietta City School District Superintendent, Brad Silvus. “We appreciate the city of Marietta including us in the planning process for this project. We are always looking at safer ways to get our students to schools. This grant will allow the city to continue to make needed changes to some of our highly traveled areas, which will only make them safer for our students.”
Funding from this grant will cover 100 percent of eligible costs, up to $390,000 during all phases of the project. Eligible costs include preliminary engineering, detailed design, right-of-way, construction, and construction engineering.
Construction for the project can begin in July of 2025 and likely will last a couple of months.
Mayor Schlicher discussed his excitement about future partnerships between the city and the school district. “The city of Marietta and Marietta City School District working together with input from the public has proven to be a strong relationship and we will continue to work with them to obtain more safety grants, continue to provide a school resource officer and be a partner to help build a stronger community.”