More than $2 million in federal grant money is flowing into South Dakota projects. The funding helps communities improve walking and bicycling paths.
This year, 11 South Dakota communities benefit from federal funding for alternative transportation. Meade County rakes in the most with a grant of nearly $300,000. Other communities range from $90,000 to about $200,000 in federal money.
Nancy Surprenant directs TAP – the Transportation Alternatives Program.
"It’s things like safe pathways for students to get to school, safe routes for non-drivers, which might be the elderly residents of our smaller communities," Surprenant says. "It may be folks that just don’t drive or, again, that youth population that doesn’t have a drivers license yet."
Surprenant says people who don’t drive deserve routes to safely walk, use wheelchairs or ride bicycles. She says the grant funding requires local dollars match part of the amount.
Below is the full list of grant awards:
Armour: Safe Routes to School, $180,540
Aurora County: Plankinton School Pedestrian Pathway, $284,957
Harrisburg: Minnesota Avenue Shared Use Path, $171,833
Hermosa: Safe Routes to School, $90,191
Meade County: Safe Sidewalks to Black Hawk Elementary School, $298,380
Mitchell Technical Institute: Safe Access Trails for Students, $213,375
Murdo: Pedestrian Facility Improvement Project, $172,823
Rapid City: Mako-Sica Rail Trail/Connection to Western Dakota Tech, $206,837
Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribe: Agency Village Pathways Project, $117,019
Tea: Athletic Complex Shared Use Path, $204,801
Whitewood: Safe Routes to School Phase II, $153,362
For more information on the grant program, contact Nancy Surprenant at [email protected] or 605.773.4912. Additional information is available on the Department of Transportation's website.