Why did the Blue Jay cross the road? Because, thanks to the new crosswalk, it’s now safe to do so. The crosswalk, known as the “HAWK Crosswalk,” is on Conistor Street, between EPiC Elementary and LHS. The crosswalk was put into construction towards the end of fall and was finished over Winter break.

Learn what to do when it’s being used. https://youtu.be/wgi9bR21tZQ 

   “After we collaboratively decided that we needed to put something in place, the district engaged our engineer staff, and we got them to look into the specifics of the area, the type of traffic that we’d be looking at, the geometry of the road, the turns,” chief operations officer of LPS Steven Anderson said. “They began an evaluation from a pure and professional mindset of ‘what would be the best location’ and ‘what would be the best design.’ The city had some ideas and the district had some ideas. What we ended up doing was we gave complete responsibility to our professional engineers, and they came up with precisely where it’s located and what it looks like and that was the plan we sold to the city later on.”

   While the goal is for everyone to use the crosswalk, people who travel between LHS and EPiC may use it more often.

   The HAWK might not seem like a big deal to LHS students, but it’s fairly significant for the elementary staff and students. EPiC students were given a permission slip to allow them to cross the road, not just for activities at the high school, but also for the students who live behind the high school and have to walk home.

   “We’re excited about the increased collaboration that it’s going to provide for us.” EPiC Elementary principal Michelle Schmitz said. “We’re thinking now that more people could come over from the high school, and more students from our school could come over there.”

   Along with in school activities, the crosswalk could also be used for afterschool activities.

   “When you have your home football games, our parking lot is used for those too. It’s also for after school hours and for those to be safe too,” Schmitz said. “We have some football teams that practice here at night, and they park over there too. We want them all to be safe.”

   The HAWK crosswalk cost a total of $125,000 and was part of the installation of EPiC Elementary, along with a parking lot and the transformation from an office building into an elementary school.

   “I would say what’s installed is kind of a higher end crosswalk. Part of that was the nature of the students moving back and forth, but also with all the development happening here with all the new shopping centers going up, the traffic is going to increase. The idea was to put in something more significant and pronounced,” Anderson said.

   Recently, KLHS produced a video on their broadcast with instructions on how to use the crosswalk. To cross on foot, one would just press a button like any other crosswalk. The video can be found on their twitter if there is any confusion on the process.

   “I think ultimately we want kids to be safe. We’d like for students from both schools and adults from both sides who are crossing the street to be using to the crosswalk,” Schmitz said.