The Mount Vernon City Council approved a grant application for the next phases of its Safe Routes to School project to provide sidewalks and crosswalks for students to get safely to school.
The initiative is intended to address concerns about student safety along routes with high-speed traffic and incomplete sidewalks.
"When I started at the city, started getting a lot of calls from people in this neighborhood saying, 'Why don't we have sidewalks here? Why are kids walking on the streets? Why are they crossing the street with high speed traffic?" said Assistant City Engineer Quentin Platt, according to a video recording of the Feb. 23 meeting.
Platt said two years ago the city submitted a grant application to the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) for a Safe Routes to School grant, which was accepted. Originally, city officials thought that completing the project's first phase was necessary before applying for additional funds. However, ODOT advised that it would be an appropriate time to submit an application for subsequent phases. Platt expects that if awarded, the new grant would require Mount Vernon to pay 50% of costs for the next two phases, with construction anticipated this summer.
ODOT has increased its maximum funding amount from $500,000 to $1 million. Planned improvements include installing a crossing at South Division Street and Yellowjacket Drive and connecting with Martinsburg Road. The project will also close sidewalk gaps south of Riley Street and connect them to Ames Street.
Platt further said that ODOT's Active Transportation Need Map designates this as a high priority area. He noted that five pedestrian or pedal cycle-related incidents occurred in 2025 within two miles of local schools. It was not a good year for pedestrian incidents within two miles of the schools. But he hopes that will help the city get funding to complete the project.
