Walking, Riding to Presumpscot Elementary to Get Easier and Safer

Photo By: Alex Boykov

Public meeting to discuss Safe Routes to School project for local school

WHAT:  This Wednesday, City Councilor Cheryl Leeman and the city’s Department of Public Services will host a public meeting to discuss a Safe Routes to School project for Presumpscot Elementary School. Recently, the city received a $90,000 Federal Highway Administration Safe Routes to School (SRTS) grant, to be administered by the Maine Department of Transportation, for safety enhancements at three locations. A portion of the SRTS funds will be used to enhance the safety of two school crossings at Presumpscot Elementary School. The project calls for the construction of raised pedestrian refuge islands, pedestrian-activated flasher systems, and improved curb ramps at the crosswalks located north and south of the school on Presumpscot Street. The funding for the project will be supplemented with city Capital Improvement Program funds. Construction is expected to begin next year.

In 1969, half of all students nationally walked or biked to school. Today, fewer than fifteen percent of the student body walk or ride to school and more than half of all children arrive in private automobiles. The decline in walking and bicycling has had an adverse effect on traffic congestion and air quality at schools as well as raises public health concerns with an increasing number of children leading sedentary lifestyles who are at an increased risk of certain health problems including obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Parents often cite safety issues as a primary reason for why their children are unable to walk or bike to school. SRTS seeks to help communities address these issues by funding projects that build safer street crossings and encourage children and their parents to walk or bike safely to school.

Earlier this year, the City of Portland installed Portland Walkways, which identify safe routes for children and parents by mapping routes to all Portland Public elementary and middle schools. The clearly marked routes, which are identified with Portland Walkways signs and arrows, were developed for safety and convenience with a travel distance of a mile or less to school.  The walkways were designed to avoid major intersections as much as possible, follow sidewalk snowplowing routes and run along well lit streets. The Maine Centers for Disease Control recommends that children between the ages of six and seventeen get a minimum of sixty minutes of aerobic exercises every day. Walking or riding back and forth to school is an easy way to help meet these guidelines.

When: Wednesday, November 28, 2012
6:30 - 7:30 PM
Where: Presumpscot Elementary School
69 Presumpscot Street, Portland