Baldwin Park awarded grant to improve pedestrian routes to schools
Author: Maritza Velazquez , Staff Writer
Caltrans' Safe Routes to School program aims to increase safety and will facilitate the construction of more signs, speed feedback, and crosswalk improvements on streets surrounding seven Baldwin Park Unified schools. Caltrans allocated more than $24 million statewide.
"It's insane in front of a school with traffic and some of the maneuvers people make and kids running between cars and it's a tragedy waiting to happen," said Baldwin Park Unified Superintendent Mark Skvarna. "If we can negate something like that, then we will."
The projects will begin in mid-2011 near Baldwin Park High, Margaret Heath Elementary, Central Elementary, Santa Fe Elementary, Tracy Elementary and Vineland Elementary, according to Baldwin Park officials.
The allocation marks the fourth for Baldwin Park since 2001 under the Safe Routes program. With the funding, the city has installed speedbumps, traffic signals and made other improvements at several schools, according to David Lopez, Baldwin Park associate engineer.
"The city of Baldwin Park has been doing a lot to create more pedestrian friendly streets," Councilwoman Monica Garcia said.
Workers will install several customized speed feedback signs, which will alert drivers to slow down, he said.
"They will also collect data to give us the different trends and speeds of vehicles," Lopez said. "It will provide before and after effects of the improvements to report back to the state as to how the improvements have changed the intersections."
In addition, the city will also make pedestrian crossings brighter and widen sidewalks at crosswalks in order to reduce the amount of time pedestrians spend in the street and solar-powered beacons that alert drivers that they're entering a school zone when students are most likely to be around.
Locations slated for improvements are prioritized according to the greatest need, Lopez said.
Skvarna said he understands why many parents opt to drive their children to school, but say there's more benefits than just getting cars off the road.
"Too many kids are being driven to school. Walking to school leads into the nutrition and health thing. These routes are becoming more walker-friendly and safe."
The allocation marks the fourth for Baldwin Park since 2001 under the Safe Routes program. With the funding, the city has installed speedbumps, traffic signals and made other improvements at several schools, according to David Lopez, Baldwin Park associate engineer.
"The city of Baldwin Park has been doing a lot to create more pedestrian friendly streets," Councilwoman Monica Garcia said.
Workers will install several customized speed feedback signs, which will alert drivers to slow down, he said.
"They will also collect data to give us the different trends and speeds of vehicles," Lopez said. "It will provide before and after effects of the improvements to report back to the state as to how the improvements have changed the intersections."
In addition, the city will also make pedestrian crossings brighter and widen sidewalks at crosswalks in order to reduce the amount of time pedestrians spend in the street and solar-powered beacons that alert drivers that they're entering a school zone when students are most likely to be around.
Locations slated for improvements are prioritized according to the greatest need, Lopez said.
Skvarna said he understands why many parents opt to drive their children to school, but say there's more benefits than just getting cars off the road.
"Too many kids are being driven to school. Walking to school leads into the nutrition and health thing. These routes are becoming more walker-friendly and safe."
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