The five minutes Margaret Shabazz and her daughter Essence spend walking to Park Elementary School every morning are some of the best moments they share. On their way to the school on North Main Street, the mother and kindergartner pass neighbors and other students and parents. Car traffic on the three-lane street gets heavy every morning around the school. Pedestrians can stop traffic with a push of a button at the crosswalk, but Shabazz and others avoid it, instead crossing a block away.
What if a kid darts across the street? Another parent brought that concern to school officials but was told it was a city matter, Shabazz said. The city, for its part, used to time its school zone signals to school schedules, but most were changed to respond only when a pedestrian pushes a button.
But pedestrian advocates in Wichita argue that little to no priority is given to maintaining and improving safety infrastructure β such as crosswalks and signage β for students who walk to school. The district also produced a video to teach students about street safety, and that video is played at schools with high concentrations of students who walk to school.
Most of the complaints β which can come from the Wichita Police Department, schools and the public β are about parking issues, traffic backups and road projects, said City Engineer Gary Janzen. Janzen said the group usually gets at least one request each year for a new crosswalk, but more of the pedestrian-related requests tend to be for maintaining existing crosswalks.
She pointed out unsafe conditions β including missing crosswalks, upended sidewalks and unchecked speeding β that make it challenging even for adult pedestrians in the neighborhood, let alone children who can still flash how old they are with two hands. But there are other concerns to be addressed along the half-mile between her home and the school, she said.
