Chattanooga, Tennessee – Safe Routes Chattanooga, a program of the Regional Planning Agency, was awarded $334,000 for two of three applications submitted last March. Improvements funded will include sidewalks, crosswalks, bike racks, and traffic controls.  The seven schools to receive improvements are Battle Academy, Big Ridge Elementary, Brown International Academy, Chattanooga Middle, Dalewood Middle, Normal Park Museum Magnet, and Thrasher Elementary.  Big Ridge, now a national case study, will host the Press Conference on Wednesday, November 14^th at 8:30 a.m.  The school is located at 5210 Cassandra Smith Road.  Arrive at 7:45 a.m. to walk to school with teachers, parents, and students as they kick-off this special event from the entrance of Bethel Bible Village on Hamill Road.

Mayor Ron Littlefield addresses that “Safe Routes Chattanooga is helping reconnect our schools to our community.  These grants will be used to provide a safer, more pedestrian and bike friendly means of getting to school.  Working together with the Lyndhurst and Benwood Foundations and Hamilton County, we are continuing to make our communities a great place to live, work, play, and go to school.”

Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department Administrator Becky Barnes recognizes that "designing our communities so that our children can walk or bike to school is an exciting step towards change in the culture of our community so that physical activity can be a part of our normal routine.”  “More students walking and biking means less automobile trips, better air quality, and healthier children” says Program Director Melissa Taylor.  Studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that ‘decreasing automobile use can reduce the burden of asthma in our cities’ thus tackling the over 8% of children suffering from asthma and increasing opportunity for physical activity such as walking or biking can help the over 18% of our children who are currently overweight. 

 “Any day we can celebrate new sidewalks, crosswalks, bike racks and traffic controls that make our children’s journey to school safer is a very good day. I am really excited about the opportunity these improvements give children and adults to “Just Move It.” I have championed increased activity among our citizens for several years now and I believe the more sidewalks we have, the more opportunity there is for people to engage in walking through their neighborhoods. I’m looking forward to my walk to school Wednesday morning on November 14th to celebrate these great additions to our communities,” states Mayor Claude Ramsey

www.saferouteschattanooga.org , www.saferoutesinfo.org , www.tdot.state.tn.us/bikeped/saferoutes.htm