Parents ask Alpine School District for bus service to Sage Canyon Middle, citing unsafe walking route along SR-73

Two residents from Lakeview Estates and Westview Heights told the Alpine School District board during public comment that children assigned to the new Sage Canyon Middle School face unsafe walking conditions and urged the district to add a bus route that serves their neighborhoods.

Laura Jensen said her neighborhood sits between 1.7 and 2.6 miles from the new middle school, placing many families just outside the district’s automatic-bus eligibility. Jensen said the most direct route from the center of her neighborhood is about 2.4 miles and requires walking along SR-73, a “very busy state highway with no sidewalk” used by cars, trucks and construction vehicles. Jensen asked the district to “reassess the transportation plan for Sage Canyon Middle School and to include a bus route that serves Westview Heights and Lakeview Estates.”

Kimberly Braithwaite, who said she represents nearly 40 children who will attend Sage Canyon this fall, told trustees the neighborhood is “just outside in parts of our neighborhoods of the parameter of 2.1 miles.” She described recent crashes on the stretch and said UDOT has cited “over a 100 accidents on this stretch of road” in the last year, that a drunk driver had driven through a backyard, and that a child who will attend Sage Canyon had previously been struck in this intersection while using a crosswalk. Braithwaite said the crosswalk lacked adequate lighting and that winter darkness would increase risk for middle-school students who cannot legally drive themselves to school.

Both speakers said alternative neighborhood and trail routes that avoid SR‑73 increase walking distance to 2.7–3.6 miles for some students, and that in winter months darkness and snow worsen safety risks. They requested that the district reconsider the transportation plan, meet with residents at the site, and explore options including a bus route for the roughly 40 affected children; they offered to participate in meetings and, they said, would be willing to help with costs if needed.

Board members did not take action on the requests during the public-comment period. District staff previously said policy sets distance thresholds for automatic busing; those thresholds were discussed but no exception was granted at the meeting. The district’s transportation staff or school operations team may follow up with residents after the meeting, per the board’s public-comment guidance.