New Westminster will explore if the School Streets program could help improve students’ safety around local schools.
The program aims to provide children with safer environments that encourage physical activity by creating car-free spaces on streets in front of schools at the start and/or at end of the school day.
Coun. Tasha Henderson raised the issue at council after having conversations with staff from the Society of Children and Youth BC. She said parents of students at Herbert Spencer Elementary, Qayqayt Elementary, Fraser River Middle and other schools have voiced concerns about traffic impacts around schools.
“This is, to me, clear indication that we need to be prioritizing this issue,” she said.
When meeting with the Society of Children and Youth BC, Henderson said they spoke about a successful pop-up a Play Street initiative at Lord Kelvin Elementary School. She said that temporary street closure helped encourage people to take other modes of transportation, to park a bit farther away to drop off students, and to encourage people to engage with each other in a bit more meaningful way at drop-off time.
“Piloting this is really an opportunity to do the consultation,” she said. “And we would pilot this not at every school, but where it makes sense.”
Henderson said staff would be able to report back on potential locations and details on how it could work at New West schools.
“I think piloting some of these pop-ups and temporary street closures will be a great way for us to test and temper what the community thinks about it,” she said. “So … I’m looking forward to working collaboratively with the school board on this and seeing where this might take us.”
At its Dec. 16 meeting, council unanimously approved a motion to have staff explore implementing the School Streets initiative around selected schools with the Society of Children and Youth BC., to work with School District 40 to identify suitable schools, and to report back on the capital and operating costs, as well as the transportation impacts, associated with implementation of a School Streets pilot program. An amendment to Henderson’s original notice of motion also directed staff to work with the school district and other partners to update New Westminster’s Safe Routes to School maps.
Resident lends support
At the Dec. 16 meeting, council heard from a local resident who supports the city’s participation in the national School Streets initiative.
“I think this new program called School Streets will provide children with safer environments that encourage physical activity by creating some car-free spaces in the front areas of our schools at the start and end of the school day, not the whole day, but during those arrival and departure times,” said Karen Crosby.
Crosby said School Streets would help children achieve their recommended level of daily physical activity (60 minutes) and would help keep them safe when going to school.
“Children walk to school and cycle, and those that do it are especially vulnerable to injury and even fatalities when they're involved in collisions with vehicles. In some Canadian cities that I've looked at, there have been deaths of children very close to their schools, even right in front of them,” she said. “So, School Streets means less risks for our children on their way to schools.”
Crosby, a member of the New Westminster Climate Action Hub, said walking, biking and other forms of active transport help reduce this climate pollution, which slows down global warming and creates a better future for our kids.
“School Street pilots are usually quite brief, even as short as a week, which is, I think, a really good way to start and allow the community to maybe dispel some fears and give their feedback and gather support,” she said.
According to Crosby, School Streets is a widespread program that’s offered in six provinces and over 1,000 cities in a dozen countries around the world. She said an Ontario study found “long-lasting effects” from pilot projects, with more children continuing to walk to school.
“Change is hard for a lot of us, and in our car-dominated society, whenever the car is inconvenienced, some are going to be unhappy,” she said. “We now have a better understanding of the need for all modes of transportation to have a safe space in our communities, not only cars. Space equity is really important. And when more people choose active transport, traffic jams actually reduce.”
Council support
Coun. Nadine Nakagawa said she’s supportive of the initiative, saying it could enhance the safety of neighbourhoods for children and their families, as well as people working at schools. She said school drop-off is a “universally frustrating” experience.
“I think that this is a good investment of time and resources from the city,” she said.
Coun. Daniel Fontaine supported the motion, but said he wants to ensure the city knows the impacts on immediate neighbours during the road closures and potential impacts on neighbouring streets.
“I'd be really interested to hear from staff around … around where do the vehicles go, and are they actually dispersed or people just simply moving the problem over to another street where there's congestion?” he said.
Fontaine also said he’s “very supportive” of the Walking School Bus program, which is why he advocated for city funding for that initiative in the city’s budget.
“I think it's a great program, and it is a great way of getting kids and parents out of the car and onto the sidewalk,” he said.
