More little feet may soon be hitting the pavement and pushing the pedals on the way to Squamish elementary schools.
The second phase of Haste BC’s safe routes to school program is underway with the aim of tackling issues that prevent students from walking and biking to school at Valleycliffe and Brackendale elementary schools and Sea to Sky Learning Connections (formerly Stawamus Elementary).
Last year, in partnership with the District of Squamish, Haste BC – the school travel planning consultation organization – helped kids and parents at Mamquam, Garibaldi Highlands and Squamish elementary schools get to school safer by foot or bike.
“Each school is very unique,” said Keely Kidner, the Haste school travel planning facilitator for Squamish.
“I think the biggest part of doing this work is making sure that we have community members involved and establishing those relationships with people.”
The program works by collecting data from kids and parents about why students are driven to school and then with a stakeholder group, made up of representatives from the District of Squamish, the Sea to Sky School District, Squamish RCMP and others, develope a set of action plans. Safe routes to school maps and school travel plan documents are created. The plans include the maps, data, analysis, action plans and recommendations for moving forward. The plans that go to the schools, the school district and the District of Squamish, can be updated and changed over time, Kidner said.
Examples of items completed from last year’s program include safety beacons at crosswalks and improvements at overpasses for Mamquam Elementary. For Squamish Elementary an area of concern was the Pemberton underpass, which students deemed “sketchy,” Kidner said. Lighting has been installed there and students from the Sea to Sky Alternative School and Learning Connections will paint a mural to brighten the underpass. For Garibaldi Highlands a no parking zone was created on Highlands Way North on the east side so that students didn’t have to maneuver around parked cars to get to school.
Infrastructure improvements were also added to Perth Drive and Thunderbird Ridge, such as a new bus waiting area and a retrofit of the turning lane, Kidner said.
There is an overlap between the safe routes to school and the district’s Active Transportation Plan, according to the district’s Beth Hurford. Therefore some of the funds in the draft budget for 2017 earmarked for active transportation will also go toward items recommended by the safe routes to school process.
So far, with the second set of schools the parent and student surveys have been completed and walkabouts with stakeholders, students and parents are underway, “walking around the school neighbourhood and identifying where the concerns are and observing and generating ideas of what to do in those spots,” said Haste BC Squamish facilitator Gabrielle Barnes.
Wednesday a walkabout was completed in Valleycliffe and on Feb. 8 a walkabout around Brackendale Elementary will take place at 8:15 a.m. beginning at the foyer of the school. The date for the Learning Connections walkabout has yet to be determined.
Kidner suggested those attending can either walk or bike or drive until five minutes away and then walk.
“So we don’t add to the congestion that we are trying to observe,” she said.
A report with a list of action items on the second set of three schools will be generated over the summer to be followed up on.
The District of Squamish Haste BC budget is $85,000 from 2015 to 2018, according to District staff.
For more on the Haste BC program go to www.hastebc.org.
