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After several failed attempts, Alamo Elementary School parents and staff are petitioning for a safer “commute” across Livorna Road.
The pedestrian safety initiative aims to improve traffic flow and student safety at the intersection of Livorna and Wilson roads, which have become heavily trafficked over the past several years.
“It has become a more traveled road compared to what it was in years back. Concern about safety of the crosswalk is on the forefront and needs to be addressed right now,” said Alamo Municipal Advisory Council (MAC) Chair David Bowlby.
A group of parents and staff attended the MAC’s June 7 meeting to voice their concerns and present the council with traffic study results. Although there haven’t been any student-involved accidents at that intersection, the group suggested that the county install pedestrian crossing signals, traffic lights or stop signs using tax money.
“Every year, I’ll get parents that will email me with concerns – a near miss, bad driving behavior,” said Alamo Elementary Principal Stan Hitomi. “It’s common enough that it concerns me. We don’t want to wait for something to happen and we can tell just by looking at the crosswalk that it’s very dangerous and needs to be corrected.”
While the busy intersection poses an immediate threat to students who use the crosswalk to get to school, concerned parents’ reaction is adding to the problem.
“It’s an interesting byproduct — parents find it unsafe for their kids to walk or bike so they drive. The win-win would be if it were safer, there would be fewer cars and at the same time you’d see more kids walking, which is the healthier option,” Hitomi said.
Over 320 students attend Alamo Elementary and though many who walk to school come through the back of campus, Bowlby said the MAC is empathetic to parent concern.
“Right now the discussion is about warrants, meaning there would need to be a threshold of how many cars pass through the intersection on every given hour to warrant a stop light or sign,” he said. “Our suggestion is to put aside the warrants because we have concerned parents.”
The MAC has submitted paperwork and meeting minutes to the county and is awaiting a response from the public works department. Bowlby said he is not sure when Alamo will receive an answer.
