Document text
A dangerous place to walk Photo by Bob Pennell Kennedy Elementary School sixth-grader Nick Daggitt makes his way along Springbrook Road after school Friday. City officials are proposing a program to build walkways for schoolchildren along busy Medford streets. City proposes paths to safety By JIM DAVIS Eleven-year-old Nick Daggitt walks along Springbrook Road in north Medford almost every day on his way to Kennedy Elementary School. Just several hundred feet away from the school, Springbrook is busy with speeding cars, pickups and rumbling dump trucks. And the road has no sidewalks and little room on the shoulder for Nick and other schoolchildren. "Just getting across Springbrook is the worst," said Kathy Wayne, Nick's mother. "Nobody slows down and, in the winter, it gets icy and foggy and you can't see the kids. "That's when I really worry about Nick going to school." The section of Springbrook Nick walks could be targeted for improvement under a possible new city program. Medford Public Works Director Corey Crebbin wants to work with the Medford School District to identify roadways where children frequently walk to school. Once they are identified, the city could put in sidewalks, asphalt walkways or crosswalks, Crebbin said. "We need to say this is the need and these are some alternatives and this is how much it costs and this is how we suggest to pay them," Crebbin said. Galen Anderson, director of business and facilities for the Medford School District, said he hadn't seen the proposal yet, but he predicted the school district would be interested in it. "It sounds like a great idea to us," Anderson said. "We would look forward to working with the city on improving walkways. It's a super idea." The idea is actually borrowed from the state of Washington, where Crebbin spent more than five years as an engineer with the city of Lacey. Washington had a program that allowed districts to identify walkways needing improvements and then apply for state money to do the work, Crebbin said. Crebbin would like to launch a similar program for kids here, starting with pilot programs with a couple of Medford schools. In Oregon, schools do not bus elementary or junior high school students who live within a mile of their schools. The radius extends to a mile and a half for high school students. Crebbin said his staff and school personnel could identify needs. "You don't just want to paint a crosswalk at every corner," Crebbin said. "There may be a reason why you want children to cross at one corner and not the other." With a plan, the city could start improvements, he said. Traditionally, the city builds concrete sidewalks only when it can add gutters, curbs and drainage. But Crebbin said the city could relax those standards. For example, it could build less-expensive asphalt pathways in some areas to meet immediate student needs. Funding remains a question. There are several methods the city could use to pay for new walkways around schools, Crebbin said. There are federal grants, or the city could dip into its coffers. But before he asks the City Council to do that, Crebbin said he wants to know what the needs are and how much it will cost. Diane Martin, who lives on Springbrook, would welcome the program. She walks her children -- 6-year-old Cameron and 7-year-old Brittany -- to and from school every day. She said anything the city could do on Springbrook would help. "The street here is real bad," Martin said. "There's no bike lanes and there's no sidewalks." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA