Fresno County aims to make walk routes to schools safer

FRESNO COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- Fresno County is working to make the walk to school safer.

Fresno County Department of Public Works and Planning department received a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety to evaluate areas around some schools through so-called "walk audits."

"Walk around the school, walk around and show them how people get to and from school, look at the areas where they might get picked up and dropped off," said Erin Haagenson, program manager for the department.

The county has hired a consulting firm that will accompany school, county and community leaders on the audits to determine which improvements might need to be made to ensure student safety.

"They'll make observations, they'll take measurements, they'll do traffic counts and they'll listen to feedback," said Haagenson.

Some of the auditors were at Powers-Ginsburg Elementary in the Fig Garden area Monday afternoon for a preliminary evaluation, where parents tell Action News things usually run pretty smoothly.

"I know each school is different, every area is different, even just the sidewalk, just the lengths. We've got a pretty wide sidewalk here -- not every place has that. So yeah, it's a really good idea," said parent Desiree Bryant.

She parks off campus and walks over to pick her child up.

Bryant says she's glad these audits are happening.

"I think it would be good if there were sidewalks on that side because a lot of people do park and try to run their kids across the street, but the crossing guards are always on point. They're always here to make sure kids are getting across safely," said Bryant.

The audits will look for areas that can be improved from short-term improvements to ones that will take longer and could cost more money.

"Some improvements might be we need additional signs for school speed limits, and some might be we need to go into those areas and build sidewalks," said Haagenson.

The audits will take place between March 25 and April 21.

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