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Council presses for safer routes to school as staff flags narrow 900 South and 400 West constraints
Summary
Council members and staff discussed pedestrian safety after a Safe Routes presentation, noting several 900 South segments under 20 feet wide and concerns that improvements could funnel students onto 400 West, which has ongoing storm-drain tailwater settling issues. Staff said right-of-way exists but work may provoke neighbor pushback.
Council members raised concerns about student safety on 900 South after a recent Safe Routes presentation and a site check by staff.
A council member who reviewed conditions said few students were actually walking during their observation but warned parents may choose to drive children because they “perceive danger.” Public works staff said they measured stretches of 900 South and found ‘‘some places in there where the paved surface is less than 20 feet wide’’ and that the current cross section cannot reasonably accommodate two travel lanes plus a 3–4-foot walkway without expanding the pavement.
Staff noted the city holds adequate right-of-way to expand but that property-line questions and nearby owners could complicate work. The public-works speaker warned that improving 900 South could move pedestrian traffic onto 400 West, which the city has long resisted major reconstruction on because of persistent storm-drain tailwater that causes settling: the staff member said the city is “not in the mood to go and do a bunch of improvements on 400 West until there's no more canal company tailwater going into the storm drain.”
Council members asked staff to return with options. One council member suggested adding protective barriers and widening on the south side to create a separated walkway; staff said they will review right-of-way staking and come back with feasible designs and a public engagement plan. The council asked that staff include tradeoffs (cost, property impacts and potential temporary detours) when reporting back.
The discussion also covered a nearby low-water crossing and a concrete design intended to keep flood flows in the channel while allowing smaller culverts; an engineering participant explained the design as “an alternative to culverts” with a small culvert at the bottom and concrete to keep flow inside the channel during large floods.
