Councilor, volunteers aim to help more students walk to school

As the city of Vestavia Hills welcomes two new school campuses for the 2019-20 school year, City Council member Kimberly Cook and several community volunteers are looking to make safer routes for children walking to schools.

Cook has asked the PTO presidents and volunteers to serve on committees for each school in an effort to study current conditions of walking routes, how to make them safer and potentially plan actions to increase the number of students who can walk to school safely.

While many students already walk to school, volunteers say increased traffic has made it dangerous to do so.

“It’s getting a little bit less safe to walk or bike to school,” said Cheri Laughlin, who is serving on the committee for Liberty Park Elementary.

Laughlin said she’s had four children go through the school, and while there is a crosswalk near the school, many drivers don’t pay attention.

“It’s a very busy crosswalk, and a lot of people will not stop at the crosswalk,” Laughlin said. “I see a walk to school initiative as being an all-win, positive experience.”

Laughlin said walking to school increases student health, helps foster relationships between students, helps the environment with fewer cars on the road, and would decrease the number of cars in traffic and in the carpool line.

One possible option mentioned by Cook and others is a “walking school bus,” where parents volunteer to take turns walking students to school.

Lyndsay Gunn is serving on the committee for the new Vestavia Hills Elementary Dolly Ridge campus and said safety is of the utmost importance, and currently, with heavy traffic near the school, it is unsafe to walk.

“All children … deserve safe places to walk around their neighborhood, or bike, starting at their school,” Gunn said.

Currently, no sidewalks are around the school, Gunn said. As the city plans to install some sidewalks in the near future, Cook said more may be needed to help students.

“We have a master sidewalk plan,” Cook said. “... I could see where maybe there need to be some updates.”

Robert de Buys is serving on the committee for Cahaba Heights Elementary, and said he’s lobbied for sidewalks for a long time. Simply by their presence, sidewalks reduce driving speeds, de Buys said.

“They’re a traffic calming device by themselves,” he said.

Many busy roads surround Cahaba Heights Elementary, including Crosshaven Drive and Cahaba Heights Road, de Buys said. Installing more sidewalks and increasing connectivity will help more students walk to school, which in turn alleviates traffic.

The initiative is beginning as schools across the nation celebrate National Walk to School Day on Oct. 10. In order to celebrate the day in previous years, de Buys said, parents had to drive their children to a sidewalk.

In the immediate future, committee members will be meeting with one another and will have meetings with other city leaders to discuss the project going forward. 

While no firm details are set yet, de Buys said the project will be more effective if the city works together.

“If this is a city-wide effort, it can be more successful,” de Buys said.