For generations, walking to school has been a rite of passage for kids in grade school.
States even give grants to make those walks safer.
Six schools in the Quad Cities received money to build or improve crosswalks and add traffic controls.
Burlington schools tried to get one of those grants, too.
But as students head to class on Monday, they'll notice a missing piece.
Burlington workers are busy putting the final touches on the city's brand new Edward Stone Middle School. But students may not be able to get to school like they planned.
Superintendent Jane Evans says, "We don't have extra money to build sidewalks on property that does not belong to the school, nor would we have the right to do that."
The sidewalk ends along Mason Road. Leaving students with nothing but grass along a busy stretch of road. And Evans says that's not safe for students.
"We are encouraging families to take alternate routes."
The District actually applied for the sidewalk grant before its new middle school was built. But the state denied that, saying there's no school, there's no kids, no need for a sidewalk. But now that the School District has its new school built, it expects the neighborhood kids that are about 1/3 of a mile away, to start walking.
Burlington resident Bryan Nelson lives just up the road from the school. He says, "I think it'd be great for them to have a sidewalk through there, it'd be a lot safer, and I think there'd be a lot of use."
His four year old is too young to join the 450 students that will enter the middle school doors on Monday. But he says it's not a road he would walk along.
"Some of it has some tight curves in it, and I see people jogging and riding their bikes, and they've got no place to go, at least the road is wide, I think it's a little bit dangerous, I wouldn't do it," says Nelson.
Mason Road has allowed new subdivisions to sprout up alongside it. But developers consider sidewalks connecting the neighborhoods a lower priority. And the City can't afford to build one without the grant money either. Leaving the School District waiting to hear if its new application will be approved.
The Iowa DOT oversees the "Safe Routes to School" grant program and will start accepting new applications in January.
The awards will be given out next school year.
