Children in Foley will be able to safely walk to schools and parks around the city before the next school year begins in August, according to city engineer Butch Stokes, if everything falls into place like he expects it to.

The proposed sidewalks will link several of the schools to, a park, the pool to each other and what Stokes called “drop off points.” The drop-off points will primarily be church parking lots close enough to the school for parents to drop their children off there and let them walk the rest of the way. Stokes said he already has agreements with a few churches in the area to serve as drop-off points.

The proposed sidewalk projects will be funded primarily by “Safe Routes to School” grants the city has been awarded since 2008. The grants total more than $560,000, according to Stokes. The city received a $164,000 grant in 2008, but the Alabama Department of Transportation, which facilitates the program, ran out of funds before Foley received the money, Stokes said. Foley applied for another grant and was awarded $400,000 late last year.

“We’ve been told recently that we should get funding sometime after the first of the year,” Stokes said.

Because the payout for the first grant was delayed, Stokes anticipates the projects being completed at the same time.

The first grant will provide funding to place what Stokes calls “the main drag” of sidewalk along Cedar Street. The city will have to match the first grant twenty percent, but the later grants will cover all materials and labor costs. The subsequent grants will connect the nearby communities and the schools in Foley to the main sidewalk.

Stokes said the proposed sidewalks will be primarily along Cedar Street, linking Foley Elementary School, Foley Middle School, Foley Intermediate School, Foley High School and as many neighboring communities as possible. Plans are in place to put sidewalks in communities along Oak Street to the main sidewalk system being placed on Cedar Street.

Stokes said the primary goal of this sidewalk system will be to make it easier for people who want to walk around the schools do so without endangering their lives by walking in the street or on someone’s property.

According to Stokes, the proposed sidewalks will provide a walkway in locations where the only paths are dangerous.

“Right now the only place they can walk is in someone’s yard or in the street. It will give the children and the adults the chance to walk,” said Stokes.

If all of the paperwork falls into place like Stokes anticipates, he hopes to be able to begin work on the sidewalks as early as possible. His goal is to have the sidewalks completed during schoolchildren’s summer vacation.

“We are going to try to get it done as soon as we can. We will have to go through a review process with ALDOT. We figure we will go through two or three iterations. We hope that we have them on the street by this summer some time. I would shoot for having them on the street by April but that may be a little optimistic,” Stokes said.

The City of Foley is also trying to ensure it gets the most bang for its buck by keeping the sidewalks to a five foot width and utilizing as much equipment and manpower the city already has at its disposal as possible.

Foley currently has another grant application pending for the “Safe Routes to School” program. Stokes plans to use the grant, if awarded, to link sidewalks on Cedar Street to walkways along U.S. 98.

Stokes believes a little concrete will go a long way to enriching the lives of the schoolchildren and other residents of Foley as well.