Children who attend Truman Elementary School will have a better chance of surviving their journey to and from classes after a skywalk opens Thursday above 4700 South.
Youngsters flock across the busy thoroughfare, at 3200 West, five days a week before and after classes, protected only by a traffic guard at the busy crossing where a 9-year-old girl attending Truman was struck and killed by a vehicle in 1989.The danger has only worsened since then.After nearby I-215 opened two years ago, motor traffic along 4700 South doubled, according to Granite School Board member Lynn Davidson, who said the Utah Department of Transportation estimates between 40,000 and 50,000 motorists use the street daily.
Truman, with some 800 pupils, is one of the larger elementary schools in the state's largest district; it is the fifth in the district to receive a skywalk. Davidson said such protection is necessary in cases where no traffic lights are close enough to a school to ensure safe crossings.
The Truman skywalk was built by UDOT only after the district contributed $50,000 to its $300,000 pricetag, which was offset also by some $50,000 in private donations, including $10,000 from car dealer Gus Paulos.
Davidson said the new skywalk, which is slated for a Thursday afternoon dedication, should reassure parents whose children walk to school. A spokesman for the Salt Lake County Department of Public Works said Monday that while the skywalk is practically finished, some work remains and that the contractor - Gerber Construction Co. of Salt Lake City - has promised to have it ready for children to use after Thursday's 2 p.m. ribbon-cutting.
He said the Salt Lake Valley's population growth in recent years has challenged the district's efforts to make the walk to school a safe one. The Granite District includes 65 elementary schools, 15 junior high schools and 10 high schools.
As motor traffic has increased, school-crossing accidents have increased and debate has become been stepped up over how best to protect students on their way to school. Educators and administrators in various districts have suggested everything from moving schools to safer locations to rerouting vehicles. More and more parents have opted to drive their children to school, according to some school officials.
The issue received some attention one year ago this week when a committee of local government and school officials heard a report that showed Arizona appears to have a better grasp of the problem and might be a good role model for Utah. Arizona has never had a school-crossing fatality.
Committee members visiting Arizona found motorists in that state more respectful of school-crossing zones. They suggested Utah school zones be more standardized and therefore more recognizable and that drivers caught going over 40 mph in a 20-mph school zone be fined $1,000.
The state House of Representatives on Jan. 23 passed a bill that would require that school-zone speeding fines start at a minimum of $50 for speeding up to 29 mph for a first-time offense to a maximum of $500 for speeding 40 mph or more on a second offense. Fines currently range from $35 to $90.
The measure would also appropriate $500,000 to buy and install signs and caution lights at school crossings, $350,000 of it earmarked for local sites. State and local governments would have until January 1993 to bring school crossings into compliance.