City invests in child safety

Since at least 2002, Anderson city officials have aggressively pursued grants and other funding sources for redevelopment, subsidized housing and safer walking routes to area schools.

"Our history with Safe Routes to School grants dates back to 2002 and the installation of flashing lights on South Street at North Valley High School," said Dana Shigley, city manager.

The pedestrian-activated flashing lights, bright yellow crosswalk paint, warning signs, curbs, gutters and sidewalks on both sides of South Street allow students to wait in a safe area and alert motorists when the crosswalk needs to be used, she said.

The intersection gets heavy use during school days from students walking, skateboarding or riding bicycles to and from Anderson Union High School as well as youths from the Bruce Street apartments going to Anderson Middle School, Shigley said.

Prior to 2009, Shigley administered those grants as part of her assistant city manager duties.

A list of the city's Safe Routes to School grants include:

• In 2002, a $366,300 grant to install curbs, gutters and sidewalks along with a pedestrian-activated crosswalk with flashing lights on South Street.

• In 2005, a $326,700 grant to install new curbs, gutter, sidewalk, signs, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) complaint pavement delineation for bicycle lanes at the intersection of Silver and Church streets, near Anderson Middle School, and along a portion of North Street.

• In July 2007, a grant of $695,050 to engineer adding sidewalks, curbing and storm drain gutters to areas of Bruce Street, Emily Drive and on Piñon Avenue.

• In 2008, a second grant of $314,100 with a 10 percent match from the city allowed the Silver Street project to be extended to Franklin and Mill streets with new curbs, gutters and sidewalks, as well as ADA-required improvements.

• In August 2009, the city completed construction of the curbs, gutters and sidewalks to Piñon Avenue as well as areas of Bruce Street and Emily Drive.

• That same month, Anderson received another Safe Routes to School grant of up to $692,050 for engineering, environmental studies, construction and management of similar projects.

• In September 2009, California's Department of Transportation awarded the city of Anderson $249,000 to add to yet another Safe Routes to School grant of $242,650 with a 10 percent match. These grants will allow engineers to design and construct a 1.6-mile bikeway and pedestrian walkway adjacent to the west side of Highway 273 between South Street and Pleasant Hills Drive/Rhonda Road.

• In June this year, the city council authorized spending another $1.466 million to upgrade the railroad crossing and install a light-controlled intersection on Highway 273 near the northern edge of the Shasta District Fair grounds.

"A lot of our projects are focused on the older or west side of town where we don't have sidewalks, curbs and gutters," Shigley said.

That is also the same side of town where the majority of older students attend school.

In early September, the Anderson City Council is expected to award a construction contract to install curbs, sidewalks and storm gutters near Anderson Middle School and on West Ferry and West Mill streets, just below the entrance to Anderson Union High School.

That project's 30-page application asks for $255,600 from the state-legislated Safe Routes to School program with a 10 percent local match of $28,500, said Jeff Kiser, public works director for the city.

Some of the school's 539 students worked on the application and supplied photographs and supporting statements through a collaborative effort with Shasta County's Public Health Advisory Board.

As part of their assignment, students designed a brochure providing safety tips for bicyclists, walkers and drivers.

"The things that keep me from riding (my bike) or walking to school . . . are streets with no sidewalks and cars zipping by or parked on the shoulder," wrote Austen York, an eighth-grader at the school.

"If changes were made, I would walk more because I would feel safer," York concluded.

In newer subdivisions that already have sidewalks, curbing and storm sewer gutters, the Safe Routes to School grants pay for adding curb cuts at intersections and the installation of ADA-approved safety mats, those "yellow sections of hardened rubber with the truncated domes" that provide a non-slip surface for wheelchairs and those who have difficulty walking, Shigley said.

In some instances, making walkways safer for students includes removal of shrubbery that has overgrown into the walking area, removal of fencing or other material that have been placed too closely to a sidewalk or reconfiguring the curvature of a sidewalk along a meandering street.

Anderson Police Chief Dale Webb said his department "has supported Safe Routes to School grants because we have witnessed first-hand how these projects improve public safety."

It also allows him to deploy his officers to other sites throughout the community where children are gathering to ride school buses to and from school.