WEST VALLEY CITY — Spray paint now lines the sidewalks outside four West Valley elementary schools.
But it’s not graffiti.
The city is using stencils of school mascots and spray paint to help keep kids safe on their way to and from school.
For example, spray-painted rockets mark the children's safest path home from Diamond Ridge Elementary.
"My boys really like them," mother Emily Anderson said. "They like to kind of follow them and make a game out of it."
"I get excited when I see them," student Sam Anderson said, "because it makes me smile."
“I think it’s a great idea,” said parent Carrie Wheeler. “We noticed them the first day they painted them on, and my kids were wondering where they led to, so we were following them and they led right to the school.”
When school ends for the day, children might be tempted to take the quickest route across the street, when really they should head to the nearest crosswalk. The markings on the sidewalk are designed to make that clearer to them.
"We just wanted to kind of highlight those safe walking paths a little bit better," said Andrew Wallentine, a management analyst for West Valley City.
The idea came from the city manager's office, with the help of interns, he said.
"(The idea was to) make them a little more fun, so it would kind of encourage the kids to be able to get out and walk and bike to school a little bit more," Wallentine explained.
The stencils resemble the school mascots outside Monroe, Hillsdale, Carl Sandburg and Diamond Ridge elementary schools.
"It gives the parents a peace of mind that they know that their kids are going to follow the right path to school and not cross the road where it's dangerous," Wallentine said.
Email: manderson@deseretnews.com