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Metro COG presents Safe Routes to School plan; cites traffic speeds and distance as top barriers
Summary
Metro COG presented a draft Safe Routes to School plan for Moorhead that identifies traffic speeds, distance and intersection safety as primary barriers to walking and biking and lists site-specific engineering and programmatic recommendations for elementary and middle schools.
Dan Farnsworth, a Metropolitan Council of Governments representative, presented the draft Safe Routes to School plan to the Moorhead City Council on Jan. 13, 2025, describing the study's purpose, public-engagement results and recommended actions.
The plan, requested by the city engineering department, covers walking and biking safety for grades K–8 across Moorhead schools and neighborhoods, and aims to improve grant competitiveness by producing a documented plan. Farnsworth said the last plan for the region dated to 2009 and that the current study includes more schools and an expanded public-engagement effort.
The study collected 138 online responses and 322 in-person responses, Farnsworth said. Survey results and outreach identified traffic speeds as the top parent concern, followed by distance to school and intersection safety. Farnsworth told the council that ‘‘the top concern that we heard from parents and the public was traffic speeds,’’ and that those concerns appear both for school trips and general neighborhood walking.
The report groups recommendations by school and neighborhood, with example engineering alternatives such as raised crosswalks, relocated or consolidated driveways and curb-cut adjustments. Farnsworth used Robert Asp Elementary to illustrate three alternatives for a complex intersection that mixes a driveway, a crosswalk and turning traffic; one option was a raised crosswalk to slow turning vehicles, another was shifting the driveway to form a T-intersection, and a third would consolidate driveways.
Farnsworth noted recurring concerns at Horizon Middle School, where parents flagged 34th Street crossings (including at 12th Avenue and Ridgewood Boulevard) as hazardous because of a 40 mph speed limit and a curve. He said options ranged from improved crosswalks and beacons to, for long-term projects, a pedestrian tunnel if grant funding becomes available.
The plan also lists citywide opportunities: use of the 2018 ADA transition plan to prioritize curb cuts and sidewalks, continued investment in shared-use paths and trails, regular crosswalk restriping, targeted enforcement of speed limits in school zones, and short-term demonstration projects to test solutions before full construction. Farnsworth highlighted that demonstration projects can be low-cost ways to test interventions.
Council members asked about winter sidewalk maintenance and program follow-through. Council Member Chuck Hendrickson raised concerns about snow- and ice-covered sidewalks pushing students into streets; Farnsworth noted community programs in nearby communities such as volunteer shovel crews as one tool, and said enforcement and outreach are both part of possible responses. Council Member Heather Niesemeyer asked whether Metro COG’s role continues after plan adoption; Farnsworth said the study is handed off to the city and school district for implementation and that recommendations are prioritized as near-, medium- and long-term to help staff pursue grants and projects.
Farnsworth said the report includes an appendix with full public-engagement documentation and encouraged council members and residents to review the online materials for maps, recommendation tables and prioritization. He then left to present the plan to the school district and offered to answer follow-up questions by staff.
