Marketplace
![[SeMissourian.com]](http://www.semissourian.com/images/nameplate.gif)
|
|
Mostly Cloudy ~ River stage: 33.9 Rising Saturday, November 21, 2009 |
RSS
 Print
 Email link
 Respond to editor
 Read comments (2)
 Share link
Cape to install traffic beacons in school zonesFriday, July 6, 2007A $102,919 federal grant will allow the city of Cape Girardeau to install flashing beacons and signs to warn motorists to slow down in front of schools, city officials said Friday. The Missouri Department of Transportation awarded the grant as part of the Safe Routes to School program. The program is designed to encourage children to walk or ride their bicycles to school. In addition to promoting an active lifestyle, walking and riding bicycles can reduce traffic and air pollution around schools, officials said. Cape Girardeau's project is one of 46 statewide to receive funding through the grant program, MoDOT officials said. The city currently has signs in front of schools advising motorists to obey a 20 mile per hour speed limit from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. when schools are in session . But Kelly Green, traffic operations engineer in the city's public works department, said flashing yellow beacons are a better option. "Some people don't know when schools are in session," she said. The solar-powered beacons will signal motorists with flashing yellow lights. In addition, the beacons can be programed by computer to flash during special occasions, Green said. "We have four years to spend the money," she said. But she said the goal is to install the beacons and school zone signs over the course of the next school year. Comments  Note: The nature of the Internet makes it impractical for our staff to review every comment. If you feel that a comment is offensive, please Login or Create an account first, and then you will be able to flag a comment as objectionable. Please also note that those who post comments on semissourian.com may do so using a screen name, which may or may not reflect a website user's actual name. Readers should be careful not to assign comments to real people who may have names similar to screen names. Refrain from obscenity in your comments, and to keep discussions civil, don't say anything in a way your grandmother would be ashamed to read.
|
Enter your email address to subscribe to our mailing lists:
|
del.icio.us
Digg
StumbleUpon
Technorati
Newsvine
Facebook
Furl
Reddit
Google
Good idea but thinking kids would ride their
bikes to school or walk is just not going to happen.As a matter of fact I don't see many kids outside doing anything anymore, except
shooting off fireworks without supervision from parents.Nope kids are way to spoiled these days to do anything except stare into a computer.
I think this is a wonderful idea. As an elementary teacher in Cape, I am surprised at how many people fly past the school ignoring the posted speed limit of 20. Hopefully the yellow lights will draw more attention to the fact that people need to slow down while driving past the school.