They don’t have a foundry of their own, but students at Kickemuit Middle School will soon have a hand in blacksmithing as they design steel bike racks for their school.

Warren has hired Steelyard, a Providence foundry, to make bike racks for middle schoolers as part of a larger goal to increase the number of kids who ride their bikes to school. The pieces will be designed over the winter with help from students and will likely be installed by springtime, Warren’s town planner Caroline Wells said.

The Warren town council approved $6,000 for the project last month, and the funds will come from approximately $350,000 in grant money already secured by the town via a Safe Routes to School grant from the Federal Highway Administration. The bulk of that money will go toward building a bridge over the upper Kickemuit River at the so-called “Broken Bridge,” which will connect the bike path behind the middle school with another path eventually leading to Metacom Avenue and beyond.

The Steelyard isn’t new to Warren. Ms. Wells hired the foundry several years ago to build and install bike racks, trash receptacles and other items around downtown Warren.

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