by JEN BIUNDO

It’s an idyllic image: kids with backpacks slung over their shoulders and arms full of books, laughing together as they stroll down shady neighborhood streets toward school.

But in the current American car-centered mode of building subdivisions, pedestrian-oriented design often takes a back seat to the automobile.

The city of Buda is teaming up with the Hays school district to apply for a $500,000 “Safe Routes to School” grant from the Texas Department of Transportation, which would allow the city to improve local pedestrian infrastructure and create walkable paths for students.

Four Buda area schools – Tom Green, Elm Grove and Buda elementary schools and Dahlstrom Middle School – could benefit from the grants.

In many cases, hooking in the school to the neighborhoods is a relatively simple task, said engineer Grayson Cox of KSA Engineers, who is helping the city apply for the grants.

For example, a sidewalk through the master-planned Elm Grove subdivision leads to the Elm Grove Elementary campus, but the path ends abruptly at a chain link fence just before the school property, Cox said.

“You have all of these master-planned communities around Elm Grove that have all of this wonderful pedestrian infrastructure,” Cox said. “It’s a situation where the developer was encouraged to build a sidewalk but the school hasn’t done anything.”

The grant would help the city extend the sidewalk onto the campus and up to the schoolhouse doors.

After the engineering and building is complete, remaining grant funds are used to educate kids on safe pedestrian and biking habits and encourage them to get on their feet.

The Safe Routes to School program would not create routes that would take kids through dangerous intersections, such as crossing railroad tracks or busy farm-to-market roads.

Buda Councilmembers and Hays CISD trustees both unanimously endorsed Buda seeking the grant funding.

If the city receives full funding, the projects could be complete in about 18 – 24 months, Cox said.