By YOLOTZIN FRANCO, News Reporter
MACOMB, Illinois (NEWS 3) — A grant for the City of Macomb has made it possible to provide safety to students going to school.
The Illinois Department of Transportation awarded the $200,000 Safe Routes to School grant to Macomb. The grant is for the improvement of ADA accessibility, walking, and bicycling to school.
The money was used to improve a safe route for those students attending Macomb Junior-Senior High School. The funds made it possible to remove a significant accessibility barrier and a set of steps. An ADA compliant ramp was added and the pedestrian crossing across Grant street was reconstructed with a new lighted pedestrian crossing and new sidewalks.
For more than four years, the City of Macomb has been wanting to make this project happen.
“There’s a great deal of relief,” Mayor Micahel Inman said. “You’ve had a project, you’ve seen it from start to finish, and now you can move on.”
The City Infrastructure Sales Tax Revenue was used to put in new sidewalks on McArthur street to Kelly street and Grant street.
Mayor Inman is looking for other grant opportunities to continue to improve the routes.
“We are just grateful for the partners and the community that we’re able to help us secure this grant funding,” he said.
