You may have read recently that the Georgia DOT awarded Forsyth County a Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Grant of $500,000. This will fund the design and construction of a trail system for Vickery Creek Elementary and Vickery Creek Middle school campuses.
The Safe Routes to School programs enable community leaders, schools and parents across the United States to improve safety and encourage more children, including children with disabilities, to safely walk and bicycle to school. In the process, programs are working to reduce traffic congestion and improve health and the environment, making communities more livable for everyone.
What’s more difficult to determine is where will these sidewalks and trails go and what communities in the area will have access to them. I spoke with the Director of Communications for Forsyth County, Jodi Gardner, and she shared some of that information with me. However, please keep in mind that none of this is set in stone, the plans are very conceptual in nature right now. Engineers from the Ga DOT and the school system will work together to identify exactly what the trail systems will be.
The potential opportunities are for sidewalks and trails sytems to tie both school campuses to the following communities: Polo Fields, Vickery, Wynfield and Dressage. Additionally there is a chance that they could tie into the Big Creek Greenway. 
If it does tie into the Greenway, it most likely would be where the trail crosses Majors Rd. just on the other side of the Polo Fields. As with the trail specifics, the timeframe is somewhat undefined at this point too, but the school system is hopefull that the trails will be in place for the 2012/2013 school year.
I think having walking and biking access to schools is a great asset for parents in the area and will be a plus for homeowners in those communities that will have access to the trails and sidewalks.
August 30th, 2010 at 6:32 am
Why is the speed in-front of the elementary and middle school 45 MPH? Seem very high for any school zone.