Rick Langlois worries about how his son gets to school. When his son went to Robeson Elementary School in Champaign, Langlois often cycled with him. But now that son is headed to Jefferson Middle School, and ready for more independence.

But is he ready for Mattis Avenue? There's no light or sidewalk where he would cross nearby, and Kirby Avenue, which has a light, adds about 40 percent more walking to the trip, Langlois said.

"Mattis is a real barrier, I think," Langlois said. "It's a very real, right-in-my-own-home safe-routes-to-school issue."

Around Champaign and Urbana, cycling advocates, school officials and city engineers have found plenty of those issues – and the potential to solve them. They hope to get a share of new federal grant money designated for projects to make it safer for children to walk or ride their bikes to school, to encourage more of them to do so and to reduce traffic, fuel consumption and air pollution.

In Illinois, $8 million is available from the Federal Highway Administration, to be distributed by the Illinois Department of Transportation through its Safe Routes to School program. The grant money can be used to pay for infrastructure projects such as sidewalks, pavement marking and traffic signals. It can also be used for safety education, events to generate interest in walking and bicycling, evaluation of the impact made by changes and traffic enforcement.

But uneven sidewalks and busy streets aren't the only reasons parents might choose to drive their children rather than have them walk to school.

Ruth Wegman's children often biked to Champaign's Bottenfield Elementary School, but she thinks the majority of children are driven to school.

"You have to have a little more time in the morning" to walk or bike, Wegman said. "A lot of parents don't."

Other parents may be concerned about crime and the safety of the areas their children must walk through to get to school. Wegman wasn't as concerned about traffic as about someone harassing her daughter on her way to school, so she went along with her in the morning.

In the Champaign school district, with its schools-of-choice program, kids may be going to a school that is not within walking distance. In Urbana, many Spanish-speaking and international students are bused to schools with language centers.

In creating a School Travel Plan for the area – a prerequisite to applying for the grant money – officials from the cities, school districts, Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District, Champaign County Regional Planning Com-mission and Safe Kids Champaign County surveyed parents, teachers and community members on what they'd like to see to make children safer on their way to school.

"Parents' number-one concern is that children will be kidnapped by a pedophile," said Cynthia Hoyle, a transportation planning consultant for MTD and an Urbana parent. "We have to find ways to address the fears."

Part of how Hoyle hopes to do that is by getting more kids walking along designated safe routes, and with adult chaperones. Hoyle, along with Rose Hudson, leads Safe Kids Champaign County, which tries to raise awareness of school and street safety issues.

Along with enlarging the local International Walk to School Day, they hope to get a share in the grant money for projects, such as educating crossing guards about the "whys" of street rules and organizing "walking bus stops," where kids can join a parent chaperone along a set route to school.

"We really hope that more kids start walking and biking to school and they can do it safely, and their parents perceive it is safe, not only in terms of traffic controls, but neighborhoods and the people in them," said Susan Chavarria of the Regional Planning Commission.

The planning commission has maps of safe walking routes to all Champaign and Urbana public schools on its Web site. To find the routes, go to www.ccrpc.org/planning/transportation/projects.php, then click on the link for Safe Walking Route Maps.

The cities and school districts have applied for several infrastructure projects and a safety study in Champaign, as well as the Safe Kids education initiatives.

In Urbana, many children walk across grass to get to Thomas Paine Elementary School from their housing complex, even in rain or snow, said Carol Baker, the district's business manager. Adding a sidewalk would give them a "central place to go" that would be cleared of snow and would lead them around the parking lot instead of through it.

At Prairie Elementary School, raising awareness of traffic safety along with maintaining sidewalks are both key issues. Principal Yavonnda Smith said many children walk to school and, especially in winter, keeping paths clear for them is crucial so they're not walking in the street.

Jennifer Selby, a civil engineer for the city of Urbana, said the city's project ideas are "all things that we've been wanting to do," but since they're not emergencies, the city hadn't found the money.

"We don't have to fix them, but if there's free money, why not?" she said.

More than 1,000 projects, totaling $77 million, were submitted for a share of Illinois' $8 million in grant money. A committee of officials from the state's transportation, education, public health and natural resources departments and state police review the applications and decide which will be funded, said Megan Holt, Safe Routes to School coordinator for the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Their decision is based on seven criteria: the demonstrated need for the project, potential for reducing child injuries and fatalities, potential for encouraging walking and biking, identification of safety hazards, identification of walking and biking routes, consultation and support of local agencies, and proximity to parks.

This is the first year the grant money has been available in Illinois. The state expects to announce this fall which applicants will receive money.

Langlois, who also is a bicycle advocate with Champaign County Bikes, thinks walking or cycling to school helps the environment along with curbing childhood obesity.

"There's a positive environmental impact of not having the car drive those kids back and forth 250 times a year," he said.

He'd like to see "complete streets" – a term for streets where cyclists, drivers and walkers all have visibility and space to move safely.

"Nobody wants to take away the ability to drive around town, but if you can reduce these barriers," Langlois said, "you basically create a more livable community."

PROJECT PROPOSALS IN CHAMPAIGN-URBANA

Here are the basics of the Safe Routes to School grant proposals from Champaign, Urbana and Champaign County:

Sidewalk gaps

What: Fill in gaps in the sidewalk on safe walking routes to four Champaign schools. In Urbana, even out or add sidewalks around two schools.

Where in Champaign

— Garden Hills Elementary School: about 550 feet from the school north to Bloomington Road, adjacent to Garden Hills Park.

— Kenwood Elementary School: 330 feet directly in front of the school on Stratford Drive.

— Bottenfield Elementary School: 1,050 feet along Broadmoor Drive from Lincoln Road to Robert Drive.

— South Side School: connect sidewalks at Haines Boulevard and Elm Street, and at Elm Street and Grandview Drive, to connect the safe walking route to South Side with Hessel Park.

Where in Urbana

— Yankee Ridge School: flatten part of sidewalk along east side of Anderson Street, widen part of sidewalk along west side of Anderson from 3 feet to 5, fill in sidewalk gaps on Eliot Drive and Lynn Street.

— Urbana Middle School: construct sidewalk along two sides of Blair Park.

Who: Cities of Champaign and Urbana, in conjunction with school districts.

Cost: $400,000 for Champaign, $396,000 for Urbana.

Signs

What: Install permanent signs that indicate a driver's speed for 10 Champaign school zones on major streets, and LED flashers for four Champaign school zones on residential streets. In Urbana, install more than 300 signs, including 97 "children walking" signs and 37 "School Speed Limit 20" signs.

Where in Champaign: Ten school zones for speed signs, including Bottenfield Elementary School, Carrie Busey Elementary School, Dr. Howard Elementary School, Edison Middle School, Franklin Middle School, South Side Elementary School and Stratton Elementary School. Four school zones for flashers, including Barkstall Elementary School, Bottenfield Elementary School and Washington Elementary School.

Where in Urbana: Signs at and around all public elementary schools, plus Washington Early Childhood Center, Urbana Middle School, Canaan Academy and University Laboratory High School.

Who: Cities of Champaign and Urbana, in conjunction with school districts.

Cost: $100,000 for Champaign, $85,000 for Urbana.

Safety study

What: Evaluate the current safe walking routes, pickup and drop-off procedures for Champaign school buildings, and bicycle facilities, and provide recommendations for increasing pedestrian and bicycle safety.

Who: City of Champaign and Champaign school district.

Cost: $50,000.

Ramp improvements

What: Make sidewalk ramps around four Urbana elementary schools comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act by adding red bumped grips.

Where: Around Leal, Thomas Paine, Flossie Wiley and Yankee Ridge elementary schools in Urbana.

Who: City of Urbana.

Cost: $360,000.

Bicycle racks, shelters, safety lighting

Where: All Urbana elementary schools and Urbana Middle School.

Who: Urbana school district.

Cost: $53,350.

Sidewalks, driveways

What: Put sidewalk through frequently traveled grassy area connecting Thomas Paine Elementary School and housing complex and, in a separate project, pave path for parents to drive along to drop off kids that is separate from the school bus stopping area.

Who: Urbana school district.

Cost: Walkway, $136,500; Parent drop-off path, $186,000.

Education programs

What: Promote International Walk to School Day, do crossing guard training, raise public awareness of driving safety around schools, promote programs like the "walking school bus," where parents lead a group of children along a route to school.

Where: Around Champaign and Urbana, expanding to other county schools.

Who: Safe Kids Champaign County.

Cost: $49,050.