The application for the grant, which was coauthored by the Gilroy Unified School District and the City of Gilroy, was submitted in November 2007, according to city staff. The grant will provide $596,475 to build a trail along Tatum Avenue across Wren Avenue and $44,550 for an educational program at Antonio Del Buono Elementary School.

The trail, to be dubbed the Lions Creek Trail, would provide a safer alternative to street routes currently walked by students in north Gilroy, including those that go to Antonio Del Buono, Rod Kelley Elementary School and Mt. Madonna Continuation High School, city staff said.

"The site was chosen because we had volunteers go out to every school site and identify what the potential safety hazards were for students walking to school," said City Transportation Engineer Don Dey. "Looking at Del Buono, there was a lack of sidewalks along Tatum."

Dey said that traffic around any school poses issues but "Del Buono was the one that most glaringly needed improvement." The trail will be completely separate from the road, allowing students to walk or ride bikes safely to school. He said that the school district will be leading the effort in putting together the program at the school. The money allocated toward the educational portion of the program will provide training materials for students and parents, Dey said. He hopes the trail will be designed by summer 2009 so that kids can start using the trail the following school year.

Superintendent Deborah Flores did not return phone messages Wednesday.

"This issue is near and dear to my heart," Councilman Craig Gartman said. "I used to be a kid myself. Any place where we can start putting trails to give kids a safe route to school is always beneficial." He pointed out that the trail that parallels Santa Teresa Boulevard near Ascension Solorsano Middle School seems to have helped students get to school safely.

The education program at Del Buono would teach students safe practices for walking and biking to school, city staff said. If successful, the program will be replicated at other schools in the district.

The grant of about $640,000 represents about 90 percent of the funds needed for the two projects, according to city staff.

"This is a very good thing," school board president Rhoda Bress said. "A lot of work went into that grant."

The grant award comes a year after the city and school failed to get a grant application in for the same award. It also comes on the heels of five incidents in less than two years in which children were hit and injured by cars.

Four of these children were on their way to or from school when they were hit and two of these children died from injuries - 5-year-old Brayan Trejo at the intersection of Church and 10th streets in June 2006 and 5-year-old Julio Gonzalez at the intersection of Welburn and Kern avenues in October 2006. Read more about the deaths of Brayan Trejo and Julio Gonzalez

Three of seven pedestrian accidents in the past two years - including two instances where adults were hit - occurred within blocks of the intersection of Welburn and Wren avenues. In February 2005, traffic analysts ranked the spot 27th among the city's top 50 collision intersections in a study commissioned by city engineers.

Last week, the City of Gilroy settled a lawsuit with the Trejo family, who had sued it for the lack of a dedicated left-hand turn light at the intersection of Church and 10th streets. Read more about the settled, $100,000-plus lawsuit