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Provo and district outline Safe Routes, crosswalk upgrades and detours during bridge work
Summary
Provo City and Provo City School District described continued Safe Routes to School coordination, bus routing to avoid University Avenue bridge construction, and multiple crosswalk upgrades (flashing beacons, pedestrian conversions, signage) intended to improve student safety.
District and city staff used the joint meeting to review Safe Routes to School coordination and planned crosswalk improvements.
Jennifer (school board) and Jared Sites, assistant superintendent for elementary schools, described the district process: each school's community council compiles recommended infrastructure changes by November; district and city staff then vet and prioritize requests, meeting quarterly with crossing-guard supervisors and transportation staff.
Officials said a bus route for Franklin Elementary was approved this year to reduce student exposure to University Avenue construction impacts. Vern, Provo's transportation director, said demolition of the 820 North bridge is scheduled to start Nov. 10 and that the official detour will use Fifth North and 500 West (US-89/State Street); the bridge work will close the underpass and the Pearl River Trail segment and is expected to last about seven months.
Vern outlined crosswalk changes: conversion of certain low-use school crosswalks to pedestrian crosswalks with push-button flashing beacons, installation of "your speed" signage and delineators to daylight crosswalks, and a four-way stop to signal conversion at the Tempe View area (work scheduled for summer construction to avoid the school year). Staff reported that at one site a speed-sign installation correlated with an average vehicle speed reduction of about 5 mph.
The district and city also discussed crossing-guard coverage: two crossing-guard vacancies remain, and the citypolice department/classified model assigns level-1 and level-2 crossings based on usage; Mariela, the crossing-guard coordinator, is recruiting replacements via HR. Staff urged community councils to use the online form for requests and said they will continue outreach and local adjustments as detours and construction change traffic patterns.
The board asked staff to monitor weekday pedestrian patterns after detours are active and to keep principals and bus drivers informed so routes can be adjusted when trains or other closures cause long delays.
