CENTRAL TEXAS

Denton Vies for Federal Dollars to Install Sidewalks Near Schools

Money would make for a safer walk to and from school

Brothers Charlie and Thomas Sturdivant, 9 and 8, often walk to and from Ginnings Elementary School in their Denton neighborhood.

But the lack of sidewalks along busy Stuart Road often make what should be a straightforward route became far more circuitous that it otherwise would need to be.

“Kids try to avoid this place,” said big brother Charlie Sturdivant, a third grader at Ginnings, about the prospect of walking along Stuart. “They would just rather go the other way because it’s dangerous here.”

Both the city of Denton and the Denton Independent School District appear to agree.

Last week, the Denton ISD school board unanimously approved a resolution in support of a city grant proposal that could bring sidewalks to two local schools, according to the Denton Record-Chronicle.

The paper noted that in February the city submitted a proposal to the North Central Texas Council of Governments for a share of federal Safe Route to School funding that could fund sidewalk installation along Stuart Road near Ginnings and along Audra and Mulkey lanes near Lee Elementary.

Stephanie Garza is a mother of two students who attend Ginnings Elementary.

“They get scared walking on this road,” Garza said, referring to Stuart. “They take another way [to school] because there are no sidewalks and it’s dangerous.”

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