KNIGHTDALE — The town is seeking a grant to pay for converting a van into an alternative energy vehicle to shuttle residents across Knightdale Boulevard.

The shuttle service, still in the planning stages, would ferry people from Knightdale’s southside subdivisions to northside shopping and city services, assistant town manager Seth Lawless said.

“It’s just an idea that Mayor Killen put forward that we’re researching,” Lawless said.

He said the issue will likely surface in the 2010 budget session. Killen said he thought of the idea at a government meeting on alternative energy.

“We’ve been working for a long time to get a crosswalk across Knightdale Boulevard that would work,” he said. “There really wasn’t a good place to put it and we got not-so-positive feedback from DOT because of additional time that it would take at intersections.”

Killen said the idea of a shuttle using alternative fuel appealed to him because it would keep more cars off the road, afford convenience for residents, and provide a vehicle that doesn’t pollute as much as a traditional one.

“We really would like to make it alternative,” he said. “The whole point of walking other than exercise, is it’s good for our environment. I feel like if we’re going to supply this shuttle, we should do it in a way that’s good for our environment, not putting another bus on the road that’s relying on gasoline.”

Killen said he envisioned the shuttle making a short, frequent loop to points across the boulevard.

Lawless said the grant application to the N.C. Division of Air Quality to cover the conversion of a van to alternative fuel is due in December.

He said a van would cost from $22,000 to $28,000 and another $18,000 to convert it to a vehicle fueled by compressed natural gas, the alternative fuel the town is considering using.

The City of Raleigh Fleet Heavy Equipment shop on New Bern Avenue sells compressed natural gas for $1.63 to $1.65 per gallon, said Travis Brown, superintendent. He said the price of CNG does not fluctuate.

Although CNG’s combustion does produce greenhouse gases, it is a more environmentally clean alternative to other fossil fuels, and it is much safer than other fuels in the event of a spill.

Lawless said the staff is continuing to explore the feasibility of putting a crosswalk across Knightdale Boulevard.

At a retreat earlier this month, town leaders said they wanted to make Knightdale more “pedestrian friendly.”

Lawless said that goal will be furthered if the town receives a grant for sidewalks along Smithfield Road from DOT that it applied for.

That application is due.

Lawless said the grant money would be used to complete a sidewalk on either the west or east side of the road from the Carrington Woods subdivision down Smithfield Road to Steeple Square Court.