DENVER — Denver has set an ambitious goal to increase the number of students in the city who walk or roll to school in the next five years.
Currently, the city estimates 14% of students walk or roll to school, according to Jon Johnson, a planner in charge of Denver’s Safe Routes to School program for the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure. It aims to increase that number to 30% by 2027.
“We’re making sure that we’re studying or identifying barriers and challenges that families, caregivers all have getting to or from school,” he said. “We do that through studies where we might identify infrastructure gaps where there might not be a sidewalk.”
“We’ve got infrastructure projects cued up at three different locations in the city and county of Denver to be constructed over the next two years,” Johnson said.
The 50-point action plan proposed for Safe Routes to School will make changes to existing infrastructure and build new additions in areas where kids walk to school.
In the meantime, on National Walk to School Day, bike and pedestrian advocate Amy Kenreich worked to recruit new crossing guards for schools in Denver’s public school district. She said adding more crossing guards near dangerous intersections would help more parents feel safe letting their children walk or roll to school.
“When I talk to people who are my age or older, almost everybody I talk to says they walked or rode their bike to school,” Kenreich said. “I see so many benefits to it. I wish that more people saw those benefits.”
Kenreich organized a Celebrity Crossing Guard Day on Wednesday. Full disclosure: this reporter was part of that event. And it was a lot of fun!
She’s encouraging people who’d like to be crossing guards to sign up at here or talk to your local school principal about participating.
“It’s a fantastic job. It makes the biggest difference,” she said. “I’ve found that if you can get kids involved then their families are involved. Then the next thing you know it’s not just let’s walk or bike to school…it’s let’s walk or bike to the grocery store…. Let’s walk or bike to get dinner or ice cream.”
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