BEDFORD, Va. – Drive through the town of Bedford and there's no doubt you'll see plenty of people walking to get downtown.
"It's one of the most walkable communities. You'll see more walkers out here than you see anywhere," Denny Huff said.
Huff, one of 15 members in the Bridge Street Area Plan Steering Committee, helped town officials recieve a $17,500 check from AARP on Wednesday.
AARP's community challenge grant helps localities with quick projects. Bedford was one of 159 localities in in the country chosen to receive the money.
"Ultimately, the community challege grants are investments. They're investments in the leadership in the community," Jim Dau, state director for AARP, said.
Town leaders say the money will help put new bike racks downtown and benches and trash cans along The Loop, a path walkers take around the old Bedford Middle School.
"We've also added two new loops that go through South Bridge Street. We wanna get signage there that pulls all those together to bring people down," Mary Zirkle, Bedford's economic development coordinator, said.
Town leaders also want to see cyclists riding in downtown. They and local police are working together to educate the public.
"We wanna make sure that they're doing it safely. We don't have bike lanes downtown, so it's going to be helping them feel more safe," Zirkle said.
Inspired by bike racks in Lynchburg and other cities across the country, town leaders say this will be a community project and all ideas are needed because they've got a short deadline.
"These are going to have to be pretty strictly designed, not to stifle the creativity, but to make sure that they can be built because we have to have them done by Nov. 4," Zirkle said.
Zirkle said the town will create a Facebook page soon to generate more community interest.