Opening of Proposal - Safe Routes to School - Our Lady of Hungary Neighborhood Proj No. 122-007 - VS Engineering

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CIT Y OF SOUTH BEND PE Ser vices for Safe Routes to School Our Lady of Hungary Neighborhood Sidew alks and ADA Ra m ps VS Engineering, Inc. | Letter of Interest 2 PROJECT APPROACH PROJECT FAMILIARITY The City of South Bend has taken preliminary steps in improving the walkability and safety associated with pedestrian traffic to Our Lady of Hungary School and the surrounding neighborhood. The most compelling contribution to this safety commitment is the City’s continued completion of Safe Routes to School projects and ultimate desire to ensure all South Bend schools have safe, ADA compliant sidewalks within walkable areas of each school. The execution of this plan has shown great benefits from prior projects in South Bend and will continue this success, especially in areas such as Our Lady of Hungary School where other City assets such as Rum Village Park, Kaiser Park and several neighborhood restaurants, will benefit. Per the City’s preliminary recommendation, sidewalk and ramp improvements near Our Lady of Hungary School will be focused primarily east of Kemble Avenue, west of Franklin Street, and north-south from East Ewing Avenue to Indiana Avenue. All existing curb ramps and sidewalks within this area will be evaluated, and where necessary, new curb ramps and sidewalks will be installed. In completing a site visit for both the school and surrounding neighborhood, VS staff found many areas in dire need of improvements including missing curb ramps, heaved sidewalks (trip hazard) due to tree root intrusion, overgrown sidewalks, missing sidewalks, etc. The VS Team understands the importance of assessing and designing infrastructure improvements as part of a comprehensive SRTS Plan that will enhance safety and promote a healthier lifestyle for children throughout the community. Development and implementation of a quality SRTS Plan includes a balance of transportation planning and engineering design components, which are both strengths of Mark and his team. Our commitment to assisting communities with their SRTS plans is evident by our extensive planning, design and implementation experience with sidewalks, recreational trails, and SRTS projects throughout the state. Project Purpose The Project Purpose is to provide design services for recommended infrastructure improvements that will enhance the walkability and bikeability for proposed and existing routes, trails and sidewalks near Our Lady of Hungary School. Infrastructure improvements constructed shall be designed to promote increased pedestrian and bicycle traffic when combined with other non-infrastructure components of a SRTS Plan. Project Need The Project Need for infrastructure improvements as part of the SRTS Plan is a result of the continued decline of students walking and biking to school. In this case, the existing conditions of the project areas leave much room for improvement as far as pedestrian safety is concerned. The first step to changing the pattern of walking/biking decline is to better understand the factors that are contributing to it. Based on a survey taken by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, parents noted the following reasons for not allowing their children to walk or bike to school: Distance to School – As schools expand in size and can accommodate more students, the average distance from home to school also lengthens. Traffic Safety – A common perception among parents is that it is more dangerous to walk or bike to school as vehicular traffic increases.