A D Street for Moscow students

Safe Routes to School Coordinator Brooke Lowry says she can now add D Street to a list of recommended paths to Moscow schools after summer construction filled in missing sidewalks.

"As the coordinator for the program, I think it's fantastic we have so many kids heading up from down the hill, and we hope since it's there, kids will use it," Lowry said. "There weren't a lot of kids using D Street before because it's so dangerous. Now that it's built, it will be interesting to see how many kids use that route."

An Idaho Safe Routes to School grant for $99,800 from the Idaho Transportation Department funded the improvements, which were made between June and late July, said Scott Bontrager, assistant city engineer.

"It's basically where sidewalk was not existing from Adams Street up to Monroe Street," he said, adding, "It has been well-advertised to the neighborhoods and the schools and everything."

D Street sidewalk improvements have been a priority of the city since 2005, and Bontrager said it was also included in the plans to meet federal Americans with Disabilities Act requirements within the city.

Students can now safely use D Street to travel east to St. Mary's School, McDonald Elementary School, Lena Whitmore Elementary School and Moscow Middle School, said Lowry, adding that D Street still needs to be added to Safe Routes' list of recommended routes. It had not been encouraged before, despite it being a heavily traveled arterial street.

"It was very sketchy and dangerous, even for adults to walk along," she said. "We did not recommend D Street before. It was just too hairy."

The city also recently added pedestrian ramps at the intersection of Blaine and D streets to provide better access to Moscow Middle School, and it's applying for another ITD grant for $500,000 to improve frontage there, with a final application to be submitted Tuesday, Bontrager said.

Lowry said North Polk Street Extension will be another area of focus in the future.

"That is an area where I just have a lot of concern for kids walking," she said. "I feel we need to put some priority on getting that addressed."

Bontrager said that will be part of another project and include adding sidewalk on the west side of Polk from E Street to Pleasant Place, as well as constructing sidewalk on Public Avenue.

"In that area, there were a few accidents that warranted this installation," he said. "It's something we haven't even designed yet. We'll be designing it this fall, with hopes of constructing it next summer."

Safe Routes will continue with its annual walk-to-school emphasis days, Lowry said, and is currently looking for more parents to participate in the Walking School Bus program. This is where children are escorted to school with one parent leading and another following in the back.

"What I'm looking for as a coordinator now is for parents willing to take it to the level where it's a weekly event," she said. "We are looking for those parents, and we have some interest, and we're going to start building on the interest that we have."

To find safe routes to school, maps and other resources, visit http:/www.sr2smoscow.com.

Brandon Macz can be reached at (208) 883-4631, or by email to bmacz@dnews.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrandonMacz.