DENVER — A Denver Public Schools parent is working to make it safer for children to bike or walk to school by pushing for more "school streets."
A school street is a temporary closure of a street or block next to a school to stop vehicle traffic during drop-off and pick-up times. The idea is popular in places like Paris, London, Vancouver, Oregon, and New York.
Allen Cowgill, a parent of two children at Brown International Academy in Denver, said school streets could benefit students and parents across the city and increase safety for students.
"It's definitely a little chaotic here during pick up and drop off hours," said Cowgill. "I think one of the biggest concerns that parents have is safety, and safety around their kid potentially being hit by a car."
He said he worries about his 7-year-old and 9-year-old, who often ride their bikes to school near busy streets surrounding the elementary school.
On National Bike to School Day in May, Cowgill helped form a school street at Brown International Academy to let students and parents take over nearby streets on their bikes without any vehicle traffic. He said he and others had the support of the school's principal, parent-teacher organization, school district, City and County of Denver, and Denver Police Department to execute the idea.
Denver PD community resource officers helped close down several nearby streets.
- Check out the event in the video player below
However, when it comes to implementing a consistent school street at any school, Cowgill said the permitting process through the city can be cumbersome and costly.
"Going through the normal city permitting process was a little bit challenging and cost-prohibitive," he said. "It required about 40 plus signs to be put up in the surrounding blocks, which I think is maybe a little bit excessive. So it was close to $1,000."
Denver7 reached out to the Denver Department of Transportation & Infrastructure (DOTI) to learn why the permitting process for a school street may be more challenging compared to getting a permit to close down a street for a neighborhood block party or another event.
Nancy Kuhn, a DOTI spokesperson, said a school street would require a permit, a traffic control plan, and proper barricades for safety. In a statement to Denver7, Kuhn said the department does not have enough resources to explore the idea.
- Read the full statement below
"This is an idea that would require quite a bit of study including bringing in our emergency response partners and surrounding community members, adjacent businesses and facilities to understand benefits and impacts. We don’t have any staff or resources identified or available to explore this idea at this time."
Kuhn said DOTI is working with Polaris Elementary on the corner of Park Avenue West and Glenarm Place to design a "shared street" on Tremont Place. She said it would allow vehicles to still use the street at a slow speed while allowing enhanced safety for walking and biking.
Jill Locantore, the executive director of the Denver Streets Partnership, said the number of children walking and biking to school has decreased significantly over the years.
"The number one reason parents give is because they just don't feel safe," said Locantore. "There's tons of research that show that kids do better in school when they walk or bike rather than being driven to school. It helps them establish healthy habits that they'll take throughout their entire life of just being physically active."
Locantore said she believes the City and County of Denver could do more to create a faster permit process for things like school streets.
"Putting all these barriers in terms of cost and professional engineering requirements really makes it impossible, particularly if you're talking about a lower-income neighborhood where parents don't necessarily have a lot of disposable resources at the ready, which is really unfair and contributes to the inequities in our city," said Locantore.
In the meantime, Cowgill said he and other parents have raised money to hire a researcher to look into best practices and policies of school streets in other cities. He said the plan is to present the findings and recommendations to city leaders to hopefully streamline the permitting process for school streets in the future.
