BAY VILLAGE, Ohio — The City of Bay Village is asking for close to $1 million in grant money from the Ohio Department of Transportation.
After spending the last year updating its school safety travel plan, the city identified several streets and intersections that needed updates or safety improvements.
One of the key safety problems was found right outside of Bay High School. The city spent several afternoons and mornings observing how students arrived and left school grounds.
Those observations led to the idea of making changes at the school's exit, along with changes to a nearby crosswalk.
Observations also led to the idea of adding more pedestrian safety features along Bassett Road between Foote and Ednil roads.
The city would like to install Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons and high-visibility crosswalks in this area of town.
Additionally, the new travel safety plan calls for changes to be made to the intersection of Wolf and Saddler roads, right outside of Westerly Elementary School.
The changes should prevent drivers from running red lights at the intersection.
With so many students traveling by bike to school, the City of Bay Village would also like to add a protected center peninsula island for any bicycle parking overflow.
All of those changes add up to $989,000.
The city hopes it's awarded one of ODOT's Safe Routes to School grants to cover the costs.
"If we are awarded, it's going to take some time because it has to go through the development process," John Rostash, Bay Village's Project Manager, said. "We're going to develop the plans and the specifications, and then, we'll have some environmental review that needs to be done."
The project is slated to begin in 2029 and should take about a year to complete.
Grant recipients should be announced mid-summer. The city said even if they aren't awarded a grant, they will find a way to make these changes.
