Grant money to be used for solar powered pedestrian beacon on Walnut Ave. in Cranford

This flashing pedestrian signal on Springfield Avenue near Miln Street (pictured above) was added after a Cranford resident was killed by a drunk driver as he crossed Springfield Avenue in 2007. Last week, the Cranford BOE accepted a $9,000 Safe Routes to School II Grant which will be used to install another solar-powered LED pedestrian crosswalk beacon at the intersection of Walnut and Blake avenues. Traffic along Walnut Avenue has been a long-standing concern in the township.

CRANFORD--During the Jan. 26 meeting, the Cranford Board of Education accepted a $9,000 Safe Routes to School II Grant which will be used to install a solar-powered LED pedestrian crosswalk beacon at the intersection of Walnut and Blake avenues.

The grant marks the second successful effort between the school district and the Cranford Police Department to gain grant money for safety projects.

In 2007, the combined efforts of Sergeant Edward Davenport and Stephen F. Izzo, the school district's manager of grants and special programs, produced $90,000 in funding from the New Jersey Department of Transportation to improve Cranford's 13.5-mile bike path and to upgrade school crosswalks under the Safe Routes to School Grant.

Superintendent of School Gayle Carrick called the grants "another example of the wonderful working relationship that exists between the Cranford School District and Cranford Police Department."

"The receipt of this grant will certainly do much to enhance the safety concerns near Walnut Avenue School for our students, pedestrians and cyclists," Carrick told the Chronicle earlier this week.

Traffic along Walnut Avenue has long been a concern in the township, with the Township Committee making efforts in 2007 and 2008 to have the speed limit reduced on the road. While the request to lower the speed limit is still before the New Jersey Department of Transportation, the township had subsequently pursued the idea of traffic calming measures near the school and other public buildings. The installation of the crossing beacon will be the first of such measures on Walnut Avenue.

Police Chief Eric Mason said that as part of the ongoing effort to improve pedestrian safety throughout the township, the push-button activated pedestrian crossing signal will be added on each side of the street at the intersection of Walnut and Blake avenues.

"That is one of our most heavily traveled routes during the school day and we felt (the beacon) would be best utilized there," Mason elaborated.

Currently, the township has only one other flashing pedestrian signal on Springfield Avenue near Miln Street. That beacon was added after Cranford resident Mano James Torta was killed by a drunk driver as he crossed Springfield Avenue on March 30, 2007.