SALT LAKE CITY — Freshly painted raptor prints are now guiding kids on safer routes throughout the Rose Park community to get to their elementary school.
I visited the area to see how Bike Utah and their partners are working to make this neighborhood safer for students.
"In the last couple months several students in the state who have been getting hit by cars and we just want to do everything we can to prevent that kind of thing in the future," said Seth Cauman with Bike Utah.
When it comes to walking and biking throughout Salt Lake City, Cauman knows all about leading the way.
"This is a way for them to show the students safe routes to school," Cauman explained.
Why pulling drivers over in Riverdale hammers home crosswalk safety:
The project began with careful planning and community involvement.
"We started with looking at technical information at where crashes happened, then we worked with the community to find their input on where the best routes are," said Cauman.
Salt Lake City, Bike Utah, Rose Park Elementary and their sponsors partnered to find a fun way to help kids get to and from school in safer areas.
Nicole Palmer, Principal at Rose Park Elementary, highlighted the need for the project: "We do have some really highly trafficked roads that our kids have to cross to get to school."
Data shows spike in crashes involving pedestrians part of rising trend in Utah:
For the Rose Park Raptors, what's better than painting the way themselves? Students like Melanie Legrreta participated enthusiastically in creating the raptor prints that will guide their peers.
"They're incorporated and they know what the project is about and they can spread it with their peers," Palmer said.
The hope is that this project is just the beginning of safer, permanent infrastructure in the Rose Park community.
This story was reported by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
DRIVEN TO CHANGE
