The Cupertino Courier
News
State grant should help make route to school a lot safer
By Cody Kraatz
The walk to and from Garden Gate Elementary School may be a bit safer in the future, thanks to a $400,000 grant the city of Cupertino is set to receive from the federal Safe Routes to School program.
The grant would pay for sidewalks along Stelling Road and Greenleaf Drive, where students and their parents tromp through the dust and mud now, depending on the weather, and would install ramps for strollers and people with disabilities.
"I am absolutely ecstatic. We're hoping with all of this stuff we'll get more people out of their cars and walking and biking," said Jay Cena, a Garden Gate parent, Cupertino Public Safety Commission chairman and a driving force behind getting the grant. The city has not received final confirmation, but is on the list of approved applications after several years of being turned down.
Cena has counted about 250 people walking on Greenleaf Drive in the mornings and as many in the afternoons, and said that when it rains there are puddles so big they cover the whole dirt path, forcing students and mothers with strollers to walk in the street.
The city also plans to install new traffic signals at Stelling Road and Greenleaf Drive that include pedestrian countdown signals, and is exploring ways to make room for left-turn-only lanes in both directions on Stelling Road, said David Stillman, a senior civil engineer for the city. This would prevent drivers who are turning from hitting pedestrians because they were paying more attention to oncoming traffic.
The traffic signal changes are estimated to cost about $120,000 and the sidewalks are estimated at $200,000. Cena hopes some of the remaining money will support efforts to educate students, parents and drivers led by the public safety commission and the Cupertino Bicycle and Pedestrian Commission.
Those interested in the safety of children on the streets around schools realize that improvements like sidewalks, crosswalks and traffic signals changes are only part of the solution. In the so-called tri-school area around Kennedy Middle School on Bubb Road, Safe Routes money has failed to bring an end to persistent traffic congestion and the accidents that result. The ideas floating around are targeted at getting people out of their cars and educating drivers and students. Another controversial idea is a free city-operated shuttle system.
"Everybody's just obviously very concerned about the situation there," said Matangi Rajamani, a Krzich Place resident who filed a report with the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Westside Substation after her son Ajay, 11, was reportedly hit by a minivan on June 1.
The sixth-grader was riding his bike down a hill on Bubb Road near Rosario Avenue when he said a man in a brown minivan pulled into the bike lane to drop his children off for school. Ajay couldn't stop and the minivan threw him into the berm, leaving him with scrapes and a pain in his head where it hit a tree and brought him to a stop.
Ajay, who suffered no major injuries, said the driver was very concerned and made sure he was all right, but never reported the incident to school administration. Rajamani filed her report and sent out an e-mail to parents she knew to spread some awareness, and has heard back from parents who are aware of similar incidents.
"I wanted people to be aware, not to nail the guy, but to say here's what happened, here's how it happened."
She said that pulling into the bike lane in front of Kennedy is a major hazard for biking children. It is a common place for parents to pick up and drop off their students.
Rajamani agrees with Cena and others in the city that some kind of busing system is the best solution to the bottleneck that chokes up the tri-school area for hours every day, causing inconvenience and danger. The city council included money in the budget it is set to approve on June 19 to improve traffic safety in trouble spots in the city. But the idea of a city-operated shuttle has met some resistance from council members who are not sure the expense would solve the problem.
"I do feel like city needs to spend more money for safety," said Rajamani, adding that for now it is up to parents to take responsibility, drive more safely and make sure their children get to school safely.
To learn more about Safe Routes to School visit safety.fhwa.dot.gov/saferoutes.
