TRUCKEE, Calif. — This fall, signs will be blinking and lights will be flashing along Donner Pass Road in an effort to make the area safer for pedestrians near the elementary and high schools.

With $67,000 in state Safe Routes to School grant funding, last week Truckee Town Council unanimously gave the go-ahead to purchase six pedestrian-activated flashing crossing signs and radar speed feedback signs for the stretch of Donner Pass Road in front of the two schools, in time for the beginning of the 2010-11 school year.

Public Works and Engineering Director Dan Wilkins said the plan is to erect the pedestrian signs at either side of three crosswalks, and the speed signs at either end and in the middle of the school zone before school starts up next fall. The signs will be solar-powered.

In addition, town staff will re-strip the crosswalks, recessing them into the pavement and using more durable thermoplastic paint, he said.

“That should make them more resistant to winter weather,” Wilkins said. “All those crosswalks need to be refreshed.”

Mid-crosswalk pillars as seen in the summer in the Gateway area will also be included, Wilkins said.

And while none of that work should be particularly disruptive to traffic this summer, a larger repaving project in August and September from Cold Stream Road to the McIver Crossing on Donner Pass Road will put larger-scale work in the area, Wilkins said.

“We'll be repaving, and maybe digging up some of the existing asphalt,” Wilkins said.

Even so, because of the width of Donner Pass Road, Wilkins said he thinks they'll be able to keep two lanes of traffic running through the construction, minimizing impacts to drivers.