News

February 25, 2010

School walking routes graded

Heights-Murray Elementary School problems and solutions discussed.

By Mark Guydish mguydish@timesleader.com
Education Reporter
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WILKES-BARRE – Despite being ringed by busy streets near the heart of Luzerne County’s biggest city, Heights-Murray Elementary School has a large number of students walking to class. Their safety can be significantly improved by eliminating ineffective signs, making crosswalks more visible, and getting a larger area declared a “School Zone,” which would drop the speed limit to 15 miles per hour, an engineer told a group of administrators and employees Wednesday.

Mark Hood of Pennoni Associates Inc. rattled off issues and potential solutions after his firm helped conduct a survey of walking routes to the school Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning.

The review came courtesy of a $5,000 “Safe Routes to School” grant from the Federal Highway Administration.

The good news: Hood said sidewalks were generally in decent shape, with tree-lawn buffers between pedestrians and traffic in many places, and most students used intersections supervised by crossing guards who performed well.

What can be improved? Hood noted some blinking school safety lights weren’t blinking, places where the sidewalk disappeared and left students either crossing the road in the middle of the block or on a muddy path, and traffic lights so short that students barely had time to hurry to the other side.

Hood noted drivers tend to be very aggressive. He said he watched one intersection for 15 minutes as every car rolled through the stop sign. But he also put some onus on students, who occasionally darted onto roads without looking, ignored crosswalks or crossing guards, and strolled along the curb, stepping into and out of traffic.

Some suggestions:

• Consider “Yield to pedestrian channelizing signs,” in the middle of roads like the one on River Street near the courthouse. They are free from PennDOT and effective.

• Paint cross walks with the “continental” pattern – short, thick parallel bars. It’s far more visible to drivers than the two long, thin lines used in many places now.

• Designate a larger area a “school zone,” which drops the speed limit to 15 miles per hour.

• Remove “Watch Children” signs, which Hood said are ineffective, and put crosswalk and school zone signs where they will do the most good.

• Consider “extended curbs,” which jut out at corners, slowing traffic and allowing pedestrians to walk beyond parked cars before reaching the road.

Mark Guydish, a Times Leader staff writer, can be reached at 829-7161

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