Why doesn’t the City build a pedestrian bridge for students over 136th Street near Carmel High School’s football stadium?
Students who park in the football stadium parking lot must cross 4 lanes of traffic in order to enter the high school campus. We have heard some in the community question why we don’t build a pedestrian bridge across the road.
First and foremost, any structure to be built on School Corporation property must be approved by the Carmel Clay School Board.
In the quest to address resident concerns, our City Engineer has looked into this issue and reports that because of ADA regulations and the lay of the land, any pedestrian crossing bridge would have to extend well beyond the edge of the parking lot – so much so that it would extend roughly a third of the way into the southern edge of the lot, making it necessary to either place the ramp to the east of the lot or in between the lots. We feel that even with the bridge, we would still have many students choosing to cross at street level, rather than walk north to enter the bridge and then make the trip to come back south. A tunnel is not functional because of the close proximity to the creek and the resulting floodway of the creek.
“A tunnel is not functional because of the close proximity to the creek and the resulting floodway of the creek.”
The better idea is to redesign 136th Street with narrower lanes and an island within the street that would make it possible for students to cross just one section at a time as they make their way across. In addition, the walking path on the island could be engineered in such a way that the students are facing the oncoming traffic just before they step back out onto the roadway. During times when an officer is not present to help direct traffic a Push Button Rapid Flashing Beacon will also be installed to bring attention to the pedestrian crossing while in use.
Once project designs are complete, they will be presented to City Council, School Board and public groups for input and feedback. The goal would be to make this improvement in 2019 as the City extends a new multi-use path between Range Line Road and Keystone Parkway along the south side of the roadway. That project is currently set to be constructed while school is not in session over the summer.
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Authored by Laura Campbell, Sue Finkam, Anthony Green, Bruce Kimball, Kevin Rider and Jeff Worrell