Walk to Bike to School
RONAN — Ronan Parks Superintendent Jennifer Rolfsness knows that real change takes time, but that doesn’t mean she’s waiting around for it to happen.
Last Wednesday was International Walk/Bike to School Day and this year marked the third year that Ronan schools have participated in the event, which has been going on since about 1997, Rolfsness said.
“Through the Ronan Parks and Safe Routes to School program, we put on these activities to help promote walking and biking for the kids,” she said. “These ongoing activities encourage kids to get outside and get more physical activity, but they also raise awareness from an environmental standpoint, reducing traffic and pollution and promote that sharing time with families and kids.”
Despite the ominous gray skies and low clouds pushed right up to the mountains, almost 300 participants did their part in spreading those values, including students, parents, teachers, administrators, community volunteers and Monte, mascot of the Montana Grizzlies.
“We had a really good turnout,” Rolfsness said. “It was a nice community collaboration.”
Everyone from the hospital to local law enforcement and volunteer groups stepped up to make the morning memorable for students who enjoyed snacks and fun giveaways along the route to school.
“The Office of Emergency Management has been real gracious about bringing the speed trailer down to give awareness to drivers,” Rolfsness said. “Pedestrians have the right-of-way, especially in crosswalk areas, and there have been times I’ve counted three or four cars before someone stopped to let a student walk across the road.”
The number of students walking and biking to school has been on the rise in recent year, she added.
“We are continuing to write grants and build the city’s infrastructure,” Rolfsness said, highlighting the current push to build a bicycle/pedestrian path from Buchanan St. to Terrace Lake Rd.
“We are continuing to find funding to increase the accessibility for kids to be able to bike and walk to school.”
Another Safe Routes to School grant, which Rolfsness wrote and received, will be used to install interactive pedestrian crossings on Round Butte Road and 3rd, 4th and 6th avenue intersections.
“That will be nice because the kids can walk up, push them, and it starts a series of blinking lights where the traffic will have to stop,” Rolfsness said. “It’s going to help us all out — the congestion there in the mornings is crazy. Kids should be able to have the opportunity to walk and bicycle to school and they should not be afraid.”
Also in the works, Rolfsness said the city is only about four years out from having the bike path to its north — which begins in Polson and currently ends at Baptiste Rd. — extend past the schools and city park, eventually crossing over to Buchanan St. and Innovation Lane.
“It’s a work in progress,” she said of the ongoing effort to connect all the pieces of the puzzle.
But then again, good things do take time.