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Ceremony celebrates safer routes to Nampa school

Students attending Ronald Reagan Elementary School in Nampa have a safer way to get to school after completion of a new segment of sidewalk that connects residential areas to the school located on Southside Boulevard. A $100,000 award from the Idaho Safe Routes to School (SR2S) program funded the sidewalk project.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony, held May 19, marked the completion of Nampa’s first SR2S-funded project.

Three more years of SR2S funding are in the pipeline for Nampa. The funds will be used for paint and sign upgrades to all of the crosswalks at 19 local elementary schools, the installation of Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs) at Birch Elementary, a multi-use pathway leading to Sherman Elementary as part of the “Rails to Trails” conversion, and an on-going funding of a local SR2S coordinator position who works with schools to encourage more students to walk and bike, both regularly and safely.

To qualify for funds, applications must address all of the barriers preventing students from walking to school. Each SR2S project must bring local partners and stakeholders together to develop an action plan that identifies issues and the strategies for addressing the barriers, from engineering solutions to pedestrian safety education.

The Idaho Transportation Board recently approved 16 new SR2S projects for FY13 and FY14, raising the total of SR2S-funded projects to 118 in Idaho since the program began.

SR2S projects help make walking and bicycling to school safe and routine for students from kindergarten through eighth grade. Children need 60 minutes of activity every day to grow up and maintain a healthy weight. Being being able to walk or bike to school can play a significant part in their daily exercise.

School-age children (age 8 through 18) spend an average of seven-and-a-half hours using entertainment media including TV, computers, video games, cell phones and movies in a typical day. Yet only one-third of high school students get the recommended levels of physical activity.

A report conducted during the 2008-09 school year shows that 29 percent of Idaho elementary and middle school students are overweight or obese. The projected economic cost of obesity for Idaho by 2018, based on current trends, is $1.5 billion.

Photos: Idaho Falls fifth graders (top) rode bikes to school one day in May, following a week-long bike safety clinic which was part of the fifth grade curriculum. Next year, nine schools will be participating in the same event.

Partners worked together to make walking and biking to school possible for students at Reagan Elementary and other local Nampa schools (right). Those attending the ribbon cutting on May 19 were Jo O’Connor, ITD SR2S coordinator; Gregg Russell, principal, Ronald Reagan Elementary; Martin Thorne, Nampa city councilman; Tom Dale, Nampa mayor; Carmel Walther, counselor; Mia Birk, president, Alta Planning, Portland; Jackie Miller, fourth grade teacher; Courtney Massimino, first grade teacher; LaRita Schandorff, Nampa Bike & Ped advisory chair; Lynda Clark, grant writer, city of Nampa; Carisa Blowers, first grade teacher; Kristi Watkins, city of Nampa SR2S coordinator; Rodney Ashby, long range planner for city of Nampa.