Winchester Looking at Safe Routes to School Program

Traffic is an increasing problem all over, not just in Winchester. But with the School Department recently finishing its traffic study, the School Committee will be looking at ways to improve traffic congestion around the schools.

One of those ways will be to have students walk to school. Earlier this year, students gathered at the and walked to the middle school for

Sergeant in Charge of Safety, Thomas Groux of the , has begun to look at getting Winchester involved with the Safe Routes to School Program, which encourages children to safely walk or bike to school.

“This is really a no-brainer,” Groux said. “Look at all the aspects it will improve – health, exercise, cut pollution and traffic congestion. Forty years ago most kids walked to school, now most are driven to school by their parents; they’re afraid to have their kids to walk to school.”

According to Groux, there are a number of benefits to enrolling Winchester in the program. On top of the health and traffic aspects, Winchester will also be eligible for federal grants. Last year, Northampton received $800,000 from the government to improve the infrastructure around the school. Possible improvements could include raised crosswalks, improved signage or better crossing lights for the town.

“Obesity is an epidemic,” Groux said. “Kids sit around and watch TV or play with their electronic devices. The least they can do is walk to school.”

Groux recently attended a Safe Routes meeting to better understand what Winchester would need to enter into the program. But if the town joins, it would not be the first district in the Commonwealth to enter into the program. According to Groux, Massachusetts has one of the highest percentages of schools involved in the Safe Routes program – approximately 20 percent. The nation average is seven percent.

Groux is hopeful that by the fall all the schools in Winchester will be participating in the program. As of now, McCall, , and have all agreed to be a part of it. But the Sergeant isn’t expecting to see a drastic change by next fall.

“I’d like to see all the schools involved eventually,” Groux said. “This fall we’re going to encourage kids to walk, bike or skateboard to school. It’s going to take three or four years before this is really going to take off and then we still need to sell this to all the groups involved.”

Groux admitted there are some problems with the plan, specifically with younger students walking to school, but he’s hopeful the principals, parents and police department will be able to come up with a workable system.

“It’s important to work closely with parent groups and develop incentives for kids to walk to school,” Groux said. “There are examples of kids who walk to school and do better in the classroom, this is something we need to focus on.”

The Safe Routes program is currently inspecting Winchester to develop walking routes for the students. Places where it’s too far to walk, there would be drop-off points a few blocks away from the schools in order to alleviate traffic in front of the schools.

Groux said that he hopes to have the routes by the end of the school year, so he, along with the PTA’s and the principals can begin to get the word out over the summer.