City working to make school crossings safer

It’s 2:10 Monday afternoon, and parents, guardians and friends are parked in the gravel Huff’n’Puff Trail lot, waiting for Shelton High School students to be released for the day across the street.

When these drivers pull onto Shelton Springs Road, few will signal which direction they are turning. Across the street, a steady stream of student cars are pulling out of one driveway, a line of buses out of the other. In between is a single crosswalk, in faded white paint without flags or signals or lights. Students hesitantly walk across this crosswalk, glancing sideways nervously, and for good reason — many drivers will sail right through it.

The Shelton City Council is working on helping those students, and the students at Evergreen Elementary School, with three projects through a program called Safe Routes to School.

In July 2021, the city was awarded $770,103 in competition for state funding. The grant money is for design and construction, and the city was required to make a 13.5% match in money.

The city will use the grants for upgraded crosswalks and other improvements on Shelton Springs Road at Shelton High School and the Huff’n’Puff Trail; Seventh and Franklin streets, across the street from Evergreen Elementary School; and two blocks away near Safeway, at Ninth and Franklin streets.

The Shelton City Council heard updates on the projects from staff Oct. 24 at a study session.

RH2 Engineering is completing the construction plans and bid package for the project. According to a city report, the city expects to have bid results in late November, with the City Council awarding the construction contract in November or December.

The budget for the project is $899,300, and the updated engineers’ estimate is $889,189 for the improvements that includes a small construction contingency. City staffers are requesting an additional $90,000 in the 2024 budget for a construction contingency for the project.

The proposed upgrades on Shelton Springs Road in front of Shelton High School include a pedestrian “refuge island” in the middle of the crosswalk, American Disability Act ramps on both sides and rapid flashing beacons to alert drivers that students are using the crosswalk. A sign will alert drivers how fast they are driving.

The chainlink fence that borders the bus garage will be extended 150 feet, narrowing the entrance/exit to the Huff’n’Puff parking lot.

The extended fencing will “get people to that one crosswalk and get people to walk across where they’re supposed to be walking across,” said Public Works Director Jay Harris.

The upgrades in front of Evergreen Elementary School at Seventh and Franklin streets include ADA ramp improvements and replacing paint crossing markers on the street with thermoplastic.

“It’s a good product,” said Aaron Nix, the city’s capital projects manager. “It lasts for a long time.”

The improvements at Ninth and Franklin streets include pedestrian crossing signs, thermoplastic markings, and extended sidewalks and curbs. The goal is to slow traffic at that intersection, Nix said.

Mayor Eric Onisko has voiced concerns for years about the dangers of the crosswalk next to Oakland Bay Junior High School on Wallace Kneeland Boulevard, and he brought them up again at the study session. Even with a rapid flashing beacon in place, “kids dodge cars there,

he said.

“Let’s get some flags people can carry across the street … We’ve got that flashing light, no one pays attention to those,” Onisko said.

“We need to get this project behind us, and get the next round of funds,” Nix said.