Council hears students’ traffic complaints

Students who walk to West Valley City School are sick of fighting traffic on the Argonne-Mullan couplet, and at Tuesday’s council meeting they asked the city to do something about it.

“What we are asking for is just a safer way to get our students across the street,” eighth-grade student Robert Tombari told the council.

There is a school zone around the middle school on Valleyway west of Argonne, but Tombari and others said it isn’t doing much good.

“The signs aren’t stopping them,” he said.

The school has asked the city to upgrade the crosswalks at the intersections to make them more visible, possibly by adding lights. Students and parents also asked for better police enforcement of the school zone speed limit.

Most of the school’s 250 students are driven to school, but some walk or ride bikes, said Principal Tom Moore.

For them, many say the only safe alternative to crossing at Valleyway, where there aren’t traffic lights, is walking about 1,000 feet to cross at either Sprague or Broadway.

Engineers have been working with the school to look at upgrades to the crosswalk, and after the presentation the City Council asked for a more detailed engineering report that details the city’s options and the cost of each.

“I understand what they’re talking about, there’s no control there basically,” Councilman Gary Schimmels said.

Councilman Mike DeVleming suggested that a process be set up to look at other problem crosswalks in the city.

“We’ve got folks not stopping at crosswalks, that’s a citywide issue,” he said.