Arlington Select Board Unanimously Approves Updated Safe Routes to School Plan

ARLINGTON -- May 4, 2026, Arlington Select Board approves first Safe Routes to School update since 2016, backed by 100-mile field review. The board voted unanimously Monday to adopt revised walking routes to all Arlington elementary schools, replacing maps that had not been updated in a decade. Transportation Advisory Committee Chair Jim Stubbe told the board that nine TAC working groups walked more than 100 miles of routes this winter, including during major snowstorms, after MassDOT produced a baseline plan in 2025 that lacked local knowledge of unsafe intersections and private-way conditions. Route segments near a Brackett School interchange were removed entirely after the school's assistant principal confirmed students were already being told to avoid the area. Arlington Public Schools had requested finalized maps by May 15 for incoming families. Separately, Town Comptroller Ida Cody reported that FY2026 revenues are running well ahead of schedule through March 31, with ambulance fees at 170 percent of projection and a projected $500,000 year-end surplus in motor vehicle excise alone.