Thursday, January 8, a walk audit was held at Pasadena Avenue Elementary in Arden-Arcade.
The two major issues were identified in this walk audit:
- Missing sidewalks west of the school on the south side of Pasadena Ave force students to walk in the dirt or on the roadway along curves with poor visibility.
- Some poor driver behavior at the intersection of Pasadena Ave and Wheat St in front of the school, including double-parking to pick up students and not coming coming to a complete stop for people in the crosswalk, creates safety hazards for students walking to and from school as well as to and from parent cars.
Walk audits are used to gather school staff and school community information about issues that affect students walking and bicycling to school, and solutions to those issues. In addition, a bike audit is conducted and extensive observations are made by the Safe Routes to School Coordinator of arrival and dismissal times, and the characteristics of the street network and neighborhoods.
A student tally, which gathers data about how students are getting to and from school, and a parent survey which gathers data about where parent perceptions and concerns, are performed for each school.
All this information is combined in a Safe Routes to School assessment report. The assessment documents existing situations and makes recommendations for improvements that will enhance the safety of students who walk and bicycle, and increases the number of students who do so. The recommendations may include both engineering, such as building sidewalks or making crosswalks safer, and procedures, such as changing drop-off/pick-up procedures and education and enforcement for drivers.
A draft of the report for Pasadena will be available for review by staff and the community in the late spring, and then finalized by the end of the school year.
Safe Routes San Juan 