newy.com.au – Year 5 students at Waratah Public School will help design safer walking and riding routes after Newcastle City Council received a $50,000 state government grant.
The council will use the Get NSW Active funding to provide classroom lessons covering navigation, road safety, spatial awareness and preparation for independent travel to high school.
Students will develop their own routes to school, with the program aimed at making active travel safer and reducing reliance on car trips.
The council will also work with the school to identify potential road markings or wayfinding posts along designated routes. Any physical changes are yet to be specified.
Wallsend MP Sonia Hornery said the Get Kids Active program, part of the broader funding package, supported safer journeys to and from school.
“The Get Kids Active program helps to make it safer, easier and more fun for kids to walk and ride to and from school,” Ms Hornery said.
The Waratah project is among 79 approved across NSW in the latest $60 million Get NSW Active funding round. Transport for NSW received 244 applications from 101 councils.
The statewide program supports shared paths, walking and cycling links and “quietways”, where streets are redesigned to reduce traffic impacts and give pedestrians and cyclists more space.
Of the statewide allocation, $10 million has been set aside for projects around schools. These can include pedestrian crossings, footpaths, shared paths and bicycle or scooter parking, as well as education programs intended to change travel habits.
A further $500,000 is available for behaviour-change projects, with up to 10 councils eligible for grants of as much as $50,000 each to improve designated walking and riding routes to school.
