2 new schools deemed too dangerous to walk or bike to

Students at two recently opened elementary schools in Kanata North are being told it's simply too risky to walk or bike to class, and are being allowed to ride the bus regardless of how close they live.

KanataHighlands Public School on Terry Fox Driveand St. Isabel Catholic Elementary School on GoulbournForced Road serve the families of Morgan's Grant.

According to guidelines, elementary students living that close would normally be expected to walk to school and therefore not qualify for free bus transportation.

But in this case, walking to school involvescrossing a busy and fast section of Terry Fox Drive, as well asnavigating sections of new roads thatdon't yet have sidewalks.

'Extremely dangerous'

Alaa Hermas, a Kanata Highlands parent, wishes his childrencould walk to school on their own.

"It's awful. I won't let my kids walk by themselves. It's extremely dangerous. I have concerns for myself crossing the street, let alone letting my kids cross it," Hermas said.

I would love for my kids to walk on their own.I'd like for them to beindependent.-AlaaHermas

"I would love for my kids to walk on their own. I'd like for them to be independent."

LyndsayMelkin, a St. Isabel parent, agreesit's unsafe, but instead of putting her son on a bus,she walks him to school herself.

"It's a shame because so many people live so close, and everybody's always talking about childhood obesity, and yet everybody just has to stick their kids on the bus," she said.

'There isn't a safe walk zone here. It's a shame.'

7 years ago

Duration 0:45

Students at two recently opened elementary schools in Kanata North are being told it's too risky for them to walk to and from classes, so they're being allowed to ride the bus regardless of how close they live to their school.

'We do try to encourage walking'

TheOttawa Student TransportationAuthority (OSTA), which oversees getting childrento and from the schools, saidelementarystudents ideally walk or bike when they live less than1.6 kilometres from their school.

But VickyKyriaco, OSTA'sgeneral manager and chief administrativeofficer, said staffconduct a thorough safety audit for eachschoolto assess the risks of walking or biking, andreduce that distance if necessary.

"We do try to encourage walking as much as possible," Kyriaco said.

"In this case I think that Terry Fox is a bit of a barrier, and it's really unfortunate. There's a curveand an incline and a change in speed, and so we determined that that school community should not be crossing Terry Fox."

Parentscomplained that drivers often rush through the intersection without yielding to pedestriansand ignore the speed limit on Terry Fox, which drops from 80 km/hto60 km/h as the road slopes down toward Old Second Line from the west.

And when traffic is backed up, drivers are more likely to burn red lights to get through the intersection.

"They're very aggressive. With the amount of lights they have to hit, this section takes forever to get through, so they're angry," St. Isabel parent Delia Keating said.

Making matters worse for pedestrians is the lack of sidewalks along Old Second Line near Terry Fox, as well as on the access road leading to St. Isabel.

Parents saymore traffic-calming measures are needed, such asa school zone speed limit of 40 km/hand traffic lightsto givepedestrianspriority.

Schools opened before infrastructure complete

St. Isabel has about 375 students and opened this September. KanataHighlands opened in September 2016 and had 334 students in October 2017.

"We happen to have lots of children in area, and the schools in the area were overloaded," said Coun. Marianne Wilkinson.

So when a new residential development was proposed on the south side of Terry Fox Drive, it provided an opportunity to address the need for new schools.

"The only place we had land for them was in this particular development.We allowed them to go there with some temporary servicing, just so we would have a school for the kids. It does lead to some difficulties," Wilkinson said.

She's working with city staff to improve walking conditions in the area by installing sidewalks and reducingthe speed limit for a longer section ofTerry Fox Drive, she said.