North Brunswick receives Safe Routes to School grant

NORTH BRUNSWICK — The township was awarded a $118,000 grant by the New Jersey Department of Transportation, one of only three towns in Middlesex County to receive grant funding.

The funding will focus on providing curbing and sidewalks near John Adams Elementary School, a K-5 school that educates approximately 565 students.

The project includes the installation of new four-foot wide sidewalks along Redmond Street beginning in the front of the school and continuing to the corner of Omaha Road. New curbs and depressed curbing for the disabled and bicyclists will also be constructed.

"The municipal staff has aggressively pursued grant opportunities and, especially in these difficult economic times, funding awards like this are crucial to improving our neighborhoods," Mayor Francis "Mac" Womack said.

"We will engage our engineers to design and bid this project as soon as possible," said Director of Community Development Michael Hritz. "This is an important safety improvement in a heavily congested area."

The grant money is from the federal government and is being disbursed through the Safe Routes to School program through the NJDOT. The program was created in 2006 to encourage children to walk and bike to school.