In about two years, students at Marquardt Middle School in Glendale Heights may have a new way to walk and bike to school.

The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County has received a $400,000 grant from the federal Safe Routes to School program. The grant will pay for the design and construction of a path on the western edge of East Branch Forest Preserve along Glen Ellyn Road.

The Board of Commissioners on Tuesday approved the initial engineering of the 1,500-foot trail.

“The school uses East Branch Forest Preserve quite a lot for a number of different activities,” said Mary Ellen Weller, the Forest Preserve District’s landscape architecture manager. “(The path) gives kids another safe option to bike or walk to school.”

The location for the path was chosen through discussions between the Forest Preserve District, the village of Glendale Heights, the Police Department and Marquardt School District 15, Weller said. The final design of the route is not expected to be complete until November, and construction will not begin until 2010.

The path is part of an long-term plan that will eventually include additional paths to the north and south, she said.

“We have a conceptual plan, but no set route or funding source,” Weller said.

Rick Finck, District 15’s business manager, said the path will provide students who live to the east with an easier way to walk or bike to school without any cost for the School District.

“The purpose of this is to not only provide a safe way to get to school, but also it provides exercise for students on the way to school,” Finck said.

Safe Routes to School is a program through the U.S. Department of Transportation designed to encourage more students to walk or bike to school.

About half of all students walked or bicycled to school 40 years ago, according to the department. Today fewer than 15 percent of all school trips are made by walking or bicycling.

The Illinois Department of Transportation administers the program in this state.

The Forest Preserve District has hired the Chicago-based URS Corp. to handle the initial design and engineering of the trail.