Montague city manager Jeff Auch said Monday’s Safe Routes to School walking routes audit went as planned despite a relative lack of public participation.
Cold weather, Auch said, was likely a factor in the lack of turnout, but those that did come out were able to accomplish the objective of the meeting - auditing walking routes to school for Montague school students. The city is pursuing a Federal Highway Administration grant that would, if approved, fund improvements and additions to sidewalk infrastructure.
Twelve walking routes were planned for the audit, six near the elementary school and six near the three school buildings adjacent to each other on or near Stanton Boulevard.
“I think we got through all of them but one,” Auch said. “We divided into small teams and each team took a different route and reported back. That data goes back to the state, which will start compiling that, and the city will start compiling information as well. There will be future public input meetings and discussion of proposed routes. It’ll be a while; it’s a long process.”
The school system’s director of business affairs, Stacey Brown, said last week that the most likely timeline should the grant be approved would involve sidewalk construction work being done in summer 2026.
Auch said many aspects of the examined routes were audited, including cracks in the sidewalks, potential trip hazards, compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and more. In addition to the areas the city already knew it wanted to examine, Auch said the audit revealed existing sidewalks that need repair.
“We’ll probably be seeking some funding for those repairs as well as for new sidewalks,” Auch said. “Our MDOT contact said this is about a 12-month process and we just started a month and a half ago. It won’t see any quick results, and we want to make sure there is plenty of input from students and community members. I imagine later this spring and early summer, people will see some new information coming out.”
The city feels optimistic about its chances of securing grant money, with Auch saying he thinks the city is going through the right steps. The proximity of the four schools to one another - Oehrli Elementary is not adjacent to Montague’s other three schools, but it is a relatively easy walk away - should bolster the city’s case for a grant.
“We’ll probably get some visuals as this develops,” Auch said. “They’ll show some of the proposed routes and maybe some of the issues and trip hazards we’ll be dealing with. Those will probably help.”
