St. Cloud Area Planning Organization to Receive Safe Routes to School Grant

(KNSI) — St. Cloud is among 23 Minnesota communities to get funding from the 2023 Safe Routes to School Program.

The grant is being given to the St. Cloud Area Planning Organization and will make it safer and more accessible for students to walk and ride bikes to school.

According to a press release, Safe Routes to School grants provide planning assistance to help communities convene a team, understand key issues, prioritize strategies and identify solutions that fit their local need. It also boosts existing local programs, such as funding a bike fleet with a trailer to teach children how to ride and funding bike parking.

Safe Routes to School is an international program to improve safety and reduce traffic congestion around schools. It does this by making it safer and easier for students to walk and bicycle to school, with the added benefit of increasing physical activity and student health.

“Children have more opportunities to walk, bike and roll to schools because of the Safe Routes to School program,” said Nancy Daubenberger, MnDOT commissioner. “Thanks to this funding, students across the state can learn how to do these lifelong, foundational activities in a safer setting.”

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has awarded more than $60 million to the program since 2005.

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