Oswego schools looking at $66K contract to evaluate walking routes

Oswego School District 308 officials want to make sure that students can safely walk to all of the district's 22 schools.

The Oswego School Board is looking at approving a $66,000 contract ($3,000 per school) with Eriksson Engineering Associates, Ltd. to conduct a hazardous walking route assessment for the district. The cost will be covered by the district's transportation budget.

"We haven't done a district wide hazardous study since 2015," Oswego School District Transportation Director Lashone Mosley told School Board members at the Oct. 21 School Board meeting. "And with all of the growth that we've seen and had in the district, we have a lot of hazardous routes in the district. The investment in this study is crucial to preventing accidents and improving the overall safety of our students, making it a responsible use of district funds."

The district covers about 68 square miles, with students not only in Oswego, but also Aurora, Joliet, Montgomery, Plainfield and Yorkville. Given the growth of the district, District 308 chief financial officer/chief school business officer Raphael Obafemi said it would make sense for a hazardous study to be done every couple of years.

"Definitely nine years is too long," he said.

The study will identify hazardous walking areas, which will include an analysis of roads, intersections, traffic patterns and pedestrian crossings in proximity to each school. It also will assess risk levels and provide recommendations for improvement, such as the installation of crosswalks, traffic lights or sidewalks.

The firm will visit the schools to gather pertinent data and observe the existing transportation roadway system. Data for each school will be requested from the district, including locations of all crossing guards, district and school boundaries and grade levels served, Mosley said.

In addition, Eriksson Engineering Associates will collect the last four years of available pedestrian and bicycle crash data from the Illinois Department of Transportation and identify any crashes near the schools.

All recommendations would align with current safety regulations and best practices for school transportation safety.