Grants to Help Build Creek Bridge

Students’ trips to and from school will soon be a little safer in Calabasas and Glendale, which are among 13 Los Angeles-area cities splitting $6 million in “safe routes” grants announced by Gov. Gray Davis this week.

In Calabasas, $225,000 will go toward construction of a new footbridge over Las Virgenes Creek, which runs behind A.E. Wright Middle School at 4029 N. Las Virgenes Road.

Students from a neighborhood behind the school often cross the creek as a shortcut, Las Virgenes School District Officials said.

“The kids have kind of created their own little pathway [across the creek],” Wright Principal Mary Sistrunk said. “This will allow them to go to school without having to walk on Las Virgenes Road, which has no sidewalks. This is just going to be a lot safer situation. Parents have been asking for this for a long time.”

Glendale will receive $45,000 for the improvement and construction of sidewalks on school routes.

The governor’s office announced $25 million in statewide grants Wednesday, part of the Safe Routes to Schools program, which will eventually earmark $40 million in federal transportation funds and $10 million in local matching funds to student traffic safety projects.

In Calabasas, $25,000 in local funds will also be allocated for the footbridge, the construction of which won’t begin for about a year, officials said. In Glendale, $5,000 in local funds will go toward the sidewalk project.

The state will allocate the remaining safe routes funds by mid-2001, Tucker said.