New city trails lead children to school

By Rachana Dixit

Published: August 20, 2008

Charlottesville resident Valerie Walcott lives close enough to Johnson Elementary School to walk there — but this year, as she dropped off two of her children Wednes-day for the first day of school, the walk was made a little better thanks to some new asphalt.

“We’ve been hoping that they’d put that trail in,” said Walcott, who lives in the Johnson Village neighborhood adjacent to the school.

Before, she said, “it was just dirt and mud.”

Vernon Bock, principal of Johnson Elementary, concurred.

“There were trails there, but they were kind of beaten-down paths,” he said.

Wednesday was the first day of school in Charlottesville and Albemarle County

The new trails at Johnson Elementary — one that runs around the back of the school and connects to the new Cherry Hill neighborhood, and another from the school parking lot to Cherry Avenue — were put in this month, in hopes that more students would walk or bike instead of automatically jumping into the car. As part of the deal between the nearby Cherry Hill development and the city,

developers agreed to build the paved trails.

Walcott’s 4-year-old daughter, Emma, eagerly anticipated riding her bike on the new trails once she gets a bike lock.

“When I learn to ride on two wheels, [my mom] will probably get me a bike lock,” said Emma, who was starting her first day of school Wednesday.

She wasn’t the only one who wanted to ride her bike that day — shortly after the Walcotts went into school, throngs of people with bikes and strollers appeared on the back trail, fully taking up its space.

“We have a lot of families coming out of Johnson Village,” Walcott said.

Through development proffers and grants, the city has garnered funding for Charlottesville schools to improve walkability and spur student pedestrian and bike activity.Though developers offered to build Johnson’s trails — the city pitched in about $2,000 — many of the schools’ improvements will be possible through the Safe Routes to School project grant, a federal-aid program administered by the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Last year, Safe Routes to School let the city allocate $359,000 to Buford Middle School and $11,600 to Venable Elementary School for various walkability improvement projects. Chris Gensic, the city’s park and trail planner, said most of the schools’ improvements are for sidewalks and some trails, so the amount of time students spend on roads is limited.

Buford is high-priority because of its sheer number of students, which stands at 568 for the 2008-09 academic year.

“We picked Buford because it’s one of the two schools that every student has to go to,” Gensic said.

Though the money for Buford and Venable has been awarded, Gensic said the city was not able to spend it until some budget issues were sorted out. Gensic said he hopes the city can move forward soon on the improvements for Buford and Venable, and is currently filing the paperwork to do so.

“I’m hoping to hear any day now that everything’s great,” he said.

Near Buford, cars and bikes that often zip through a three-way intersection of Forest Hills Avenue, Prospect Avenue and Ninth Street Southwest have led to heightened concerns about students’ safety.

“One of our biggest fears is children blowing right through a stop sign on a bicycle,” said Caroline Heins, the Safe Routes to School program coordinator for the Alliance for Community Choice in Transportation, a citizens group that pushes for balanced transportation options. Part of Buford’s grant money will go toward improving the intersection.

Heins said children often forget that bicycles must follow the same traffic rules as other vehicles.

“They don’t understand that a bicycle is a vehicle,” she said.

Additionally, Heins said many times young children are unaware of how vehicles work

“We adults who are very familiar with cars take it for granted,” she said.

DeNeil Bryant, 13, has been walking from his Rockcreek Road house to Buford since last year. If he sees cars coming especially fast, DeNeil said, “I’ll just take the trail” that runs through Forest Hills Park.

As for improving the three-way intersection next to the school and adding more sidewalks, DeNeilsaid, “I think it’ll help a lot.”

Heins said Safe Routes to School programs have been incorporated into some city schools to teach children about pedestrian and bike safety and, if possible, inspire them to use those alternative modes of transportation to get to school.

“We would like to have every child in the city of Charlottesville have some practical understanding of safe walking and biking skills,” Heins said.

Gensic said the city does not have a concrete goal for how many students should walk or bike to school. But 5-year-old Mercedes Goering, who also walked to Johnson Elementary with her parents on Wednesday, is one student who plans to keep on doing it.

“It gives you lots of exercise,” she said.