Safe Walking and Biking Routes to May Street Elementary
What is planned, demonstration projects and new infrastructure!
“I live in the zone that is closed off for the School Street and it has drastically increased pedestrian safety at the June St/9th St blind corner. Busy, rushed parents have often blown through the cross walk trying to quickly pick up/drop off kids at the back of the school. Closing the road for the allotted time lets kids pour out of school and into the neighborhood safely. I was genuinely surprised at how positively this small change impacted our neighborhood.”
School Street demonstration survey
School Street demonstration
For last month of school in 2024, the streets of June and 9th were restricted to through vehicles to reduce congestion next to the school and make it safe for students who walk and bike to school.
Cost: $400
Organizations: City of Hood River, Hood River County School District
SUMMARY
Neighbors loved it because the street was quiet and peaceful. Families loved it because they it felt safer and calmer for their students. 65% of survey respondents want to see a permanent school street.
Current Project Status
The City and School District have decided to proceed with a permanent solution with implementation in Spring 2025. Temporarily, the street barricades will be placed during school hours or daylight.
Future Improvements
In 2022, the City of Hood River adopted a Safe Routes to School Plan after a year of engagement with May Street Elementary and Hood River Middle School staff and families.
The results is a document that identifies 31 infrastructure opportunities like intersections, bikeways, paths and crosswalks to knit together a network for students to get from home to school.
The Top 5 priorities are:
May and 12th Street Intersection
May and 13th Street Intersection
12th Street Bikeway and east-west crossings with Pine, Taylor, A and Wilson Streets.
13th Street east-west crossings of Sherman, Taylor, A, B and Belmont
May and 17th Street Intersection
80s Walk & Roll Club identifying the risks in crossing 13th Street: parked trucks blocks the view of oncoming vehicles.
Parents pin map with their infrastructure concerns.
13th and May Street is a highly used intersection for both May Street and Hood River Middle School students. The bad design gives parents incredible anxiety.
12th Street has no bike lanes so students like this bike bus ride on the sidewalk between Pacific and Union Streets, which forces conflict with people walking.
Intersection of Prospect and 22nd, the location of a student bike crash site. The PE class visited the site to review the crash details and what lead to incident, which was visibility issues due to tall bushes at the southwest corner. People biking east on Prospect couldn't see people driving north on 22nd and vice versa.
