HALLOWELL — Alice Gifford walks her children, and some of their friends, to Hall-Dale Elementary School every morning, until it’s too cold for comfort, anyway.

On their way, the children chat about school, recess and the weekend’s soccer games. Gifford and the other parents appreciate the morning walk through Hallowell’s residential streets and stretches of tree-covered trail.

When the pack reaches the corner of Central and Hillcrest streets, though, Gifford gets serious.

The hill is blind in both directions. The road is narrow. The shoulder is even narrower. Despite its popularity with walkers, cyclists and others in the neighborhood, neither street has sidewalks.

And drivers regularly exceed the posted speed limit of 25 mph.

“We have to make sure the kids are visible, off the side of the road and that we’re waving at cars in a friendly way,” Gifford said.

Dafydd Holbrook-Pronovost, who has watched repeated close calls at the intersection over the years, applied last year for a grant through the local civic-minded grassroots organization he leads, Strong Towns Hallowell, to implement traffic-calming measures.

Strong Towns Hallowell received that grant from the Augusta-based Viles Foundation in late August.

Traffic calming work — including signs suggesting a 20 mph speed over the blind hill and painted street markings to visually narrow Central Street — should begin in the next several weeks. Hallowell Public Works staff will install the signs and paint the markings.

The idea, Holbrook-Pronovost said, is to reinforce the low speed limit with visual cues. If the road appears narrower and signage suggests potential danger from high speed, drivers are more likely to slow down.

The grant’s total was just $1,500. Holbrook-Pronovost said the money will go a long way.

“Once people see how simple and what a little thing it is, and potentially how cheap it can be, the hope is that other people will start looking around and seeing, ‘Oh, this little thing could be improved here for just a small amount of money in there and here,” he said. “These things, once you start to see them, they kind of become obvious in an awful lot of places.”

Strong Towns, an organization with local chapters all over the world, is built on the idea that incremental impact at the local level can make changes more possible for more people, Holbrook-Pronovost said. Strong Towns also has chapters in Portland, Westbrook and the Saco Bay communities.

Before applying for the grant in the spring, Holbrook-Pronovost used a radar gun to record how fast cars drove past the intersection during a one-hour period. More than 80% of drivers flew by above the speed limit, and more than 20% of drivers sped more than 10 mph over the speed limit.

Vehicles travel especially fast heading east, toward downtown Hallowell. Holbrook-Pronovost found that 92% of drivers exceeded the speed limit.

“Even if someone decides to be nice and, ‘Oh, I’ll go give a wide berth to the pedestrians and do it safely,’ because of the blind crest, they have no way of knowing if there’s another vehicle going over 40 mph in the other direction that’s going to hit them head on,” Holbrook-Pronovost said.

Gifford said she sees that kind of driving often near that intersection. She hopes the new efforts will make her walks to and from school safer.

Strong Towns and the Hall-Dale Elementary School Parent-Teacher Organization are hosting a second Walk, Bike and Roll to School Day on Oct. 7 to encourage families to use alternative transportation and to demonstrate that doing so is safe and fun.

During last year’s Walk, Bike and Roll to School Day, Gifford said the walking group grew from its usual six to about 20 — a sign of success.

The hope is to have the traffic calming efforts complete by the big day, Holbrook-Pronovost said.

Gifford will walk to school with her children regardless. Unless, of course, it’s too cold for comfort.