Providing safe routes for kids that walk to and from Academie Lafeyette Charter School - Cherry Campus is a key concerns for parents in the neighborhood and staff at Academie Lafeyette. 

Although Armour Boulevard has been improved by the addition of bike lanes and a painted crosswalk at Holmes, traffic still moves too fast for most parents to allow their children to cross unsupervised. Many families in the area would allow their kids to walk to school, but choose not to due to safety concerns at Armour. 

Given that so many parents choose to drive their children to school, the Cherry Campus car rider line regularly backs up and overflows onto Armour Boulevard, compounding traffic and safety concerns there - and also making it a general nuisance for everyone in the area. 

We believe that a crosswalk near Kenwood Street (crossing Armour Boulevard) that is safe and effective for unsupervised children wishing to walk to or from school is desperately needed.

A crosswalk currently exists at Holmes, but it is not safe or effective for school children. Currently a child crossing at this location must navigate two lanes of high speed traffic, two bike lanes, and two parking lanes. 

We believe that a new crosswalk needs to be designed to provide a safe and effective crossing. The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) has provided design guidelines for Midblock Crosswalks which should be followed to ensure an adequate crosswalk is provided. https://nacto.org/publication/urban-street-design-guide/intersection-design-elements/crosswalks-and-crossings/midblock-crosswalks/

Among other things, the NACTO guidelines for a midblock crosswalk recommend:

1) Vertical elements such as trees, land­ scaping, and overhead signage help to identify crosswalks and islands to drivers.

2) Daylighting in advance of a cross­ walk makes pedestrians more visible to motorists and cars more visible to pedestrians. This may be accomplished by installing a curb extension.

3) Medians or safety islands create a 2­stage crossing for pedes­trians, which is easier and safer.

4) At key access points to schools, raised crossings (speed table) increase visibility, yielding behavior, and create a safer pedestrian crossing environment.

5) Unsignalized crossings should be highlighted using additional warning signage, high­visibility lighting and markings, actuated beacons (where applicable), and traffic calming features, such as raised crossings and mid-block curb extensions.

6) Actuated pedestrian signals (half­ signals), hybrid beacons, or rapid flash beacons may be considered at midblock locations, or unsignalized crossings where infrequent crossings make a traffic signal or stop sign unnecessary. Fixed­-time signals or passive detec­tion are preferable to push­button detection.

A signalized crossing across Armour currently exists at Warwick for access to Foreign Language Academy.  A unsignalized crossing near Kenwood is likely possible with curb extensions, a speed table, beacons, and adequate signage per the NACTO guidelines. Without these design changes, we believe the next best alternative is to provide a signalized crossing similar to Warwick.