Safe Routes to School in Germantown are delayed

Riverdale Elementary and Middle School students were supposed to start school last week with new sidewalks and bike lanes in surrounding neighborhoods. Now, it could be another eight months before the lanes are built as Germantown works to find the right bidder for the Safe Routes to School project.

Parent Allison LaRue walks with her children daily to and from Riverdale and worries as she watches other kids walk unaccompanied on busy neighborhood streets. She said school families have been told about the project and are waiting for it.

LaRue does not feel safe letting her daughters walk to school unaccompanied with the lack of sidewalks in Neshoba North.

“There are plenty of times we cross (the street) and we’re waiting for several cars to pass,” she said of their threequarter mile trek to school.

Germantown chose the lowest bidder for the project over the summer, but the bidder had parts of its proposal that were incomplete per city requirements, according to Emily Rozar, Germantown capital improvements program coordinator.

The second-lowest bidder exceeded the city engineer’s estimated cost for the project. The city must make modifications to the project before it can be taken back to bid, and the process could take another eight months.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen must vote to reject the bid at an upcoming meeting and the bid amount cannot be released until that is done, Rozar said.

In the previous project, sidewalks and Americans with Disabilities Actcompliant ramps would be added to Great Oaks Road from Poplar Estates to East Churchill Downs. It would also affect Neshoba Road from Riverdale Road to the east side of Tamarack Lane and Oak Run Drive from Riverdale Road to Miller Farms Road. It also would add several bike lanes in the surrounding neighborhoods.

Riverdale was one of three schools in Shelby County to receive federal funds for Safe Routes to School, but the only school in Germantown Municipal School District. The school received $215,795 in federal funds through the Tennessee Department of Transportation in 2016, and a June amendment voted on by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen increased the amount to $377,858. Elsewhere in the county, Highland Oaks Elementary and Rozelle Elementary received about $240,000 for the programs in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

Safe Routes to School was a federally funded program that provided more than $1 billion nationwide to promote walking and biking to school. Tennessee received nearly $21.6 million from 2007 until 2012. TDOT acted as a liaison to schools in the state, distributed the funds and approved street plans for the funds. Although the program ended in 2012, TDOT continued to award funds to schools until the money ran out. Riverdale was one of the last schools to be awarded the grant.

Because the city must redesign the project and get it re-approved by the state, it might be next school year before students can use the routes.

LaRue looks forward to the days where she can let her girls walk themselves to school, but for now she is content walking three miles per day to ensure their safe arrival.

Allison LaRue