Photo by Dwayne Black A pedestrian crossing outside Marshall Middle School has a flashing beacon used to alert drivers to people in the crosswalk. This style of beacon was one kind of safety improvement that could feature in a possible county-wide Safe Routes to School plan, proposed by the Southwest Regional Development Commission.

MARSHALL — Lyon County Commissioners say they’re interested in hearing a proposal for a grant that could help bring pedestrian crossing signals and other safety measures to cities like Cottonwood and Minneota.

On Tuesday, the county board heard a presentation from Chris Webb, with the Southwest Regional Development Commission. Webb said the SRDC was trying to gauge interest in applying for a grant to create Safe Routes to School plans in Lincoln, Lyon and Murray Counties.

Webb said SRDC didn’t have a formal proposal yet. But the initial response from commissioners was positive.

“I think it’s a good thing,” said Commissioner Gary Crowley. “I think we should see what happens.”

Webb said SRDC was looking at creating a county-wide Safe Routes to School plan for Lyon County.

“If you’re familiar with Safe Routes to School, traditionally, it’s been a statewide program,” where a consultant works with a community to look at safety needs for children going to school, Webb said. “Then, the plan is designed to create strategies or infrastructure improvements to make it safer and more convenient for students to walk or bike in their community.”

As a state program, Safe Routes to School has focused on one community at a time, Webb said. However, SRDC was looking at applying for a federal Safe Streets for All planning grant, that could cover multiple communities at once.

The Safe Streets for All grant would include funds for planning and possibly some design engineering work, but not construction, Webb said. “What we’ll be looking at if we were to move forward with the grant would be, to provide an analysis of crash data and high-risk areas in our communities, and mapping those travel routes that students take.”

Webb said one of the biggest identified safety improvements would probably be Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon systems. RRFBs have flashing lights at pedestrian crossings, to alert drivers to people in the crosswalk. The city of Marshall has installed RRFBs at locations like crosswalks near Marshall Middle School and Southview Elementary.

Other possible improvements for area communities could include identifying places for painted crosswalks, traffic signs, and education strategies that could be used at school districts and in local communities.

“The plan would create a phased implementation and funding strategy, so it would create a priority list of items to look at,” Webb said. “We would focus our efforts in some communities that haven’t had Safe Routes in the past.” In Lyon County, that would mainly include the communities of Cottonwood and Minneota, he said.

The planning process would also look at how safety improvements could be funded, including through future federal and state grant applications.

Webb said he was hoping to go forward with three counties, to ask for around $200,000 in the planning grant. The SRDC would contribute toward a matching grant, along with some matching money from each county, or from cities within the counties. He said Lincoln County had approved working with SRDC on the proposal, and as of Tuesday morning he had not been to the Murray County board yet.

“I need to talk to all three counties, and talk to the school districts in those counties, to kind of see who I’m going to be moving forward with,” Webb said. The window for grant applications doesn’t open until later this spring, he said.

Commissioners said they were interested in hearing a formal proposal in the future.