BY ROD HANSEN
One local advisory group hopes to get students on the move with a pedestrian and bicycle path to the middle school.
“Ultimately, our goal is to make the town of Weare more pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly. The way we planned on starting that was to come up with a nucleus surrounding the middle school,” said Walter Alderman, the resident currently spearheading the effort for a pedestrian and bicycle pathway.
Formation of the committee comes in response to the town warrant of 2006, which directed the town to create a bicycle/pedestrian path committee, develop a long-term plan for the town and investigate funding resources.
Alderman met with selectmen on the issue last October, when the committee was in its initial stages. The group now has four official members and one other unofficial member, Alderman said.
With part of the advisory committee’s charge involving finding funding options, Alderman said the group will likely work through the national Safe Routes to School program.
That initiative is coordinated locally through the New Hampshire Department of Transportation.
The department is currently working with schools, local governments, planning commissions and advocacy groups to create a survey on why only a few students walk or ride bicycles to school, according to Department of Transportation information.
The survey results will help local task forces develop solutions for individual schools or groups of schools, according to information in a Department of Transportation press release.
The department communicated to all school districts and municipalities in the state through a package of information and an e-mail follow up, said New Hampshire Program Coordinator John Corrigan.
Early studies have shown two of the major barriers keeping students from walking to school include crime and traffic hazards, Corrigan said.
Means of combating both of those problems could include having students walk or bike to school together under adult supervision, said Corrigan. This approach would encourage student exercise and also cut back on the number of individual parents driving their children to school.
“If you have a neighborhood where 10 to 15 parents are driving their children to school, it would make more sense to have those students riding or biking in under parental supervision,” said Corrigan.
The idea of a pedestrian and bike pathway to schools is not entirely new to the Weare School District, according to one school official. The school board had considered previous plans for a pedestrian pathway to the middle school, but the proposal was deemed cost-prohibitive given other scheduled improvements, said school board Vice Chairman Marjorie Burke.
A federal program could make New Hampshire eligible for $1 million a year for each of the next five years, Corrigan said.
Once communities have formed task forces and developed plans, Corrigan said the Department of Transportation expects to issue its request for proposals in May of 2007.
The Safe Route to Schools program functions on a reimbursement basis, according to program information. This means communities must raise and appropriate the money for the improvements first, with federal money then funneled through the Department of Transportation to pay for local expenses.