The Safe Routes to School program by the Ohio Department of Transportation is responsible for creating the first sidewalks along Fremont Road in Port Clinton, a busy thoroughfare considered a hazard for youngsters who go to school on foot. (Photo by D’Arcy Patrick Egan)

Port Clinton and Ottawa County officials have teamed up with the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Safe Routes to School program to finally complete a much-needed sidewalk on a busy Port Clinton thoroughfare.

Many children on Port Clinton’s west side have for years walked or bicycled the Fremont Road roadside to get to school, even though it had no sidewalks and was a very busy roadway. The small, grassy strip alongside Fremont Road was dangerous, but convenient for the children in many homes in the neighborhood.

Fremont Road is also a convenient way for motorists to reach downtown Port Clinton, but the two-lane road was constructed long before neighborhoods there began to expand.

The sidewalks and other traffic improvements on Fremont Road were a perfect fit for ODOT’s Safe Routes to School program. With urging from local officials, a $348,538 grant made the construction possible this month.