School Kids Weather Road Construction

August 20, 2008

By Alana Rocha

(WICHITA, Kan.)

One road construction project ends and another begins. Drivers see it daily. But some Wichita kids are walking right through it on their way to school and then on the way back home.

It's not easy by car. And can be dangerous on foot.

"Especially in the mornings with all these people turning right, you can't get across. You're stuck right in the middle and it's really confusing," Sara Fallier said. The eighth grader walks through the intersection everyday on her way to Wilbur Middle School.

Location of Wilbur Middle School

Duane Crafton is Wilbur's School Resource Officer. He says, "A lot of times they'll come to this and they might be used to crossing it a certain way. This time it might be a confusion to them of what to do."

Anyone passing through Central and Tyler would call it confusing and crowded. For about a hundred Wichita students who walk to Wilbur Middle School up the road, the congestion is something they'll have to get used to for the next several months.

The road construction started a day before classes got underway and will remain throughout the school year.

Nate Manchester, a sixth grader at Wilbur says, "All you have to do is push the button and go." Many kids do push the button, but not all wait for the go ahead to cross.

And the construction doesn't stop during peak walking times. "If they can find another safer route, that would be my suggestion," said Crafton.

He says both the kids and drivers need to be on the lookout, make eye contact to make sure the other one sees them.

"If you walk straight across here in the turning lane, most of them don't pay attention cause they're paying attention over here to traffic. They're more worried about turning than anything else," Jenni Gaspardo, a seventh grader at Wilbur said.

The peak times for drivers to be on the lookout for kids are 7 to 10 in the morning, and 2 to 4:30 in the afternoon.

The intersection at Tyler and Central is about to get more congested. Starting September 2nd, the improvement project moves into full swing.

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