Safe Routes to School

The speed limits within Penticton school and playground zones are now 30km/h at all times – 24 hours a day, seven days a week. These changes reflect the fact that school facilities are key community amenities that are often used outside regular school hours, including evenings and weekends. The changes also enable City staff to add traffic calming measures, such as speed humps, which previously wouldn’t have been suitable due to a need to allow for higher speed in the off-hours.

The changes are in response to the City’s ‘Safe Routes to School’ studies, community safety concerns and resident feedback gathered through the Transportation Master Plan engagement process. 

Image

• Oct. 7, 2024: City working to create safer routes to schools
• Aug. 15, 2024: Watch for traffic changes around schools and playgrounds
• July 3, 2024: New sidewalks and crosswalks being installed outside Uplands Elementary
• May 22, 2024: City takes steps to improve safety around schools and playgrounds
• May 2024: Carmi Elementary Safe Routes to School report 
• May 2024: Uplands Elementary Safe Routes to School report
• May 29, 2023: City launches pilot project to create safer routes to schools
• Details about the engagement process (now closed) can be found at shapeyourcitypenticton.ca
• Safe Routes to School background fact sheet

A ‘Kiss & Go' zone is a short-term stopping area where drivers can park for a short time – no longer than two minutes – while the student exits the vehicle. This keeps a steady flow of vehicles moving. 

The City has installed its first 'Kiss & Go' on Green Avenue outside Skaha Middle & Princess Margaret Secondary schools. 

A ‘Kiss & Go' zone is a short-term stopping area where drivers can park for a short time – no longer than two minutes – while the student exits the vehicle. This keeps a steady flow of vehicles moving. 

The City has installed its first 'Kiss & Go' on Green Avenue outside Skaha Middle & Princess Margaret Secondary schools. 

Image

These designated ‘Drive to Five’ spots are located five minutes (500 metres) away from the school, where parents can drop off or pick up their kids. This encourages walking for short distances, while helping to reduce congestion near the front of the school. This saves you time and builds student confidence to walk independently.  

Drive to Five planning guide examples: 

• Waterloo Region Drive to Five 
• City of Nanaimo Drive to Five 
• CRD Drive to Five Toolkit

A walking or biking school bus is an organized group of students who walk or ride bikes to and from school together with the support of adult leaders. They travel along a designated route, stopping along the way to pick up or drop off students along the way.  

Walking School Bus Guides:

• How to start a walking school bus at your school 
• WalkingSchoolBus.org 
• How to set up a bike bus

Drive to Five planning guides

• Waterloo Region Drive to Five 
• City of Nanaimo Drive to Five 
• CRD Drive to Five Toolkit

Walking School Bus guides

• How to start a walking school bus at your school 
• WalkingSchoolBus.org 
• How to set up a bike bus

Other Resources

• School Travel Planning
• ParticipACTION Youth and Child Report Card 
• Active Transportation: How are children getting to school? 
• BC Transit - Get Bus Ready 

The City of Penticton partnered with Carmi Elementary and Uplands Elementary on a pilot project in 2023 to help identify safe routes to school using active transportation. Through public engagement and based on best practices, the plan supports safe and comfortable environments for students to walk, wheel and roll to school wherever possible.

The plans are living documents that will be reviewed annually by the City with the schools and will be used to develop an action and management plan for infrastructure upgrades identified through this process.

Now that these two studies are complete, the City plans to roll it out to roughly two schools each year. Next up are Columbia Elementary and Skaha Elementary.  

What the Study Involves 

Each school plan will be unique to the school, particularly when it comes to the infrastructure changes that are necessary in each area to support it.  However, there are elements and key outcomes that will be replicated for all plans, including:

Developing a brochure to provide to the school that outlines the “safe routes” and highlights infrastructure available to support those routes (ex. crosswalks, sidewalks, trails, etc).  

Introducing “Drive to Five” areas.  These are areas that provide additional opportunities for parents to park and walk/drop-off children within a five-minute walk/ride to the school to reduce congestion in and around the schools as well as the added physical benefits.  

Introducing a “Walking School Bus” or “Bike Bus.” 

And more suggestions... 

Construction is underway on Middle Bench Road to install new sidewalks, raised crosswalks and other safety measures outside Uplands Elementary school. 

The City has committed roughly $300k to complete the sidewalk network on Middle Bench Road adjacent to the school frontage as part of the 2024 budget. The safety improvements include installing sidewalks on both sides of the road, raised crosswalks and curbs. In addition, the City will add storm infrastructure to prevent future flooding. 

Other infrastructure action items include addressing sidewalk gaps along Westminster Ave E (a key route), addressing u-turning in front of the school, adding more road markings and signage, and working with the SD 67 to formalize access through the back of the school property.  

The full action plan can be found on Page 23 of the Uplands Plan, and staff will continue to work collaboratively with the school administration and the community to implement these actions.  

The following suggestions are pulled from the Safe Routes to School report. You can read the full study here. 

Here are some of the opportunities and recommendations (review the report for the full list):

• Implement Drive to Five+ locations to support improved pick-up, drop-off at school and encourage walking. This will help reduce congestion near the school frontage during pick-up and drop-off times.
• Organize Walking School Bus groups to facilitate group travel for students walking and cycling along the Kettle Valley Rail Trail.
• Work with teachers to add active and sustainable transportation-related content into regular coursework and lectures. Incorporate BC Transit’s Ready to Roll transit education program into lessons and special events (such as Earth Day or other environmental events).
• Use active and sustainable transportation whenever possible when travelling for school field trips.
• Make regular announcements and mount posters at school encouraging students to walk, bike, and take transit to school and related events to keep active and sustainable transportation top of mind and highlight its benefits.
• Participate in active transportation events and programs including Go By Bike Week.
• Pathway improvements, new sidewalk installations, traffic calming throughout the area and the option of adding centre median posts on Middle Bench Road to prevent U-turns.
• Conduct intersection and pedestrian crossing improvements near the school. Review side streets along Best Routes to Uplands Elementary and implement traffic calming, which could include stop signs at all intersections, curb extensions, leading pedestrian interval at major intersections, turn restrictions and speed reductions.
• Explore changes to school parking lot. 
• Install centre median flex posts on Middle Bench Road to prevent U-turns. 
• Review opportunity to reduce speed limit permanently to 30km/hr along major corridors in proximity to the school (Middle Bench Road and Johnson Road).
• Explore the feasibility of installing a sidewalk on the north side of Johnson Street. 
• Work with RCMP to enforce speeds and other road safety concerns in the school area.
• Explore feasibility of filling in sidewalk gaps 
  on Westminster Avenue from Townley Street 
  to MacDonald Street.

This process involved: 

• Meetings with the school administration and parent advisory committee.
• Site visit to better understand transportation challenges and opportunities. 
• Neighbourhood walkabout to explore well-used routes and brainstorm opportunities. Attendees included the project team, school administration, caregivers and students. 
• Survey of school community to better understand travel modes, behaviours and concerns.
• ‘Hands up’ surveys in classrooms and student visioning workshops.
• Safe Routes to School Plan prepared. 
• Brochure & map of best routes to school

The following suggestions are pulled from the Safe Routes to School report. You can read the full study here. 

Here are some of the recommendations made in the report: 

• Implement Drive to Five locations to support improved pick-up, drop-off at school and encourage walking.
• Review side streets along Best Routes to Uplands Elementary and implement traffic calming, which could include stop signs at all intersections, curb extensions, leading pedestrian interval at major intersections, turn restrictions and speed reductions.
• Install new bike racks that have better security features in high visibility locations.
• Explore feasibility to reduce vehicle use and speeds 
  along Manitoba Street corridor and support active transportation facilities, including bikeways and improved sidewalk facilities.
• Organize Walking School Bus groups to facilitate group travel from Drive to Five Locations to Carmi Elementary.
• Work with teachers to add active and sustainable transportation-related content into regular coursework and lectures. Incorporate BC Transit’s Ready to Roll transit education program into lessons and special events (such as Earth Day or other environmental events).
• Use active and sustainable transportation whenever possible when travelling for school field trips.
• Make regular announcements and mount posters at school encouraging students to walk, bike, and take transit to school and related events to keep active and sustainable transportation top of mind and highlight its benefits.
• Participate in active transportation events and programs including Go By Bike Week.

Read the full list of suggestions

This process involved: 

• Meetings with the school administration and parent advisory committee.
• Site visit to better understand transportation challenges and opportunities. 
• Neighbourhood walkabout to explore well-used routes and brainstorm opportunities. Attendees included the project team, school administration, caregivers and students. 
• Survey of school community to better understand travel modes, behaviours and concerns.
• Student visioning workshop.
• ‘Hands up’ surveys in classrooms and student visioning workshops.
• Safe Routes to School Plan prepared. 
• Brochure and map of best routes. 

The City is in the process of designing changes to the Manitoba Street corridor (from Carmi to Forestbrook) and has committed roughly $525,000 for this work.

Since the plan, the School District has adopted their long-range facilities plan, which will see the closure of Carmi Elementary and children re-directed to a new KVR Elementary.  Given the proximity of the new KVR Elementary to Carmi, many of the recommendations in the Carmi plan will remain valid, and staff will be working with the School District to adapt the Carmi plan to a new KVR Elementary plan as part of next year’s workplan. 

In the meantime, the improvements to Manitoba Street, which were already included in the 2024 budget, will continue to be important for both the future KVR Elementary and the broader neighborhood (Pen Hi, KVR middle, Kiwanis Park, Daycare etc). 

All other recommended actions, as noted starting on Page 25 of the Carmi plan, will be re-evaluated as part of the development of the KVR elementary plan.   
 

To create safe and healthy modes of active transportation

In 2021, the City of Penticton adopted a Transportation Master Plan (TMP) that seeks to create and manage a safe transportation system that supports all ages, abilities and modes of transportation. A key goal identified in the TMP is to ensure residents and workers throughout Penticton have the opportunity to walk to parks, schools, shopping, jobs and other destinations in safety and comfort. 

To work toward our climate goals

Converting vehicle trips to active trips is a key goal in the Community Climate Action Plan, which notes that 54% of our community emissions are created by vehicles. In addition to electrification, in order to achieve the targets in the Community Climate Action Plan relating to vehicle emissions, the City is striving to reduce vehicle kilometres travelled by 13%. The City plans to do this by:

•    Eliminating approximately a quarter of the kilometers travelled by better land use planning (locating housing close to services/commercial)
•    Converting almost half of the kilometers travelled to active transportation (biking, walking, scooters etc)
•    Converting the remaining quarter to transit trips 
The Safe Routes to School Program is designed to support students and their families to walk, bike or roll to and from school, which is in direct alignment with the Community Climate Action Plan goals.  

To meet our strategic priorities

The Safe Routes to School program meets the following City Council strategic priorities. 

Safe & Resilient: The City of Penticton will enhance and protect the safety of all residents and visitors to Penticton.
Livable & Accessible: The City of Penticton will proactively plan for deliberate growth; focused on an inclusive, healthy, safe and desirable place to live.
Vibrant & Connected: The City of Penticton will support vibrant and diverse activities creating opportunities for connection in community.

Each school plan will be unique to the school, particularly when it comes to the infrastructure changes that are necessary in each area to support it.  However, there are elements and key outcomes that will be replicated for all plans, including:

Developing a brochure to provide to the school that outlines the “safe routes” and highlights infrastructure available to support those routes (ex. crosswalks, sidewalks, trails, etc).  

Introducing “Drive to Five” areas.  These are areas that provide additional opportunities for parents to park and walk/drop-off children within a five-minute walk/ride to the school to reduce congestion in and around the schools as well as the added physical benefits.  

Introducing a “Walking School Bus” or “Bike Bus.” 

And more! 

HEALTH: Staying active is good for your child’s physical and mental health.

SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT: Spending time together outside promotes positive connections with friends and family.

SMART MOVES: Students who walk or roll to school arrive more alert and ready to learn.

ENVIRONMENT: Reducing the number of car trips decreases greenhouse gas emissions, traffic congestion and parking problems.

INDEPENDENCE: Active travel builds confidence.

The Safe Routes to School Plan will be a joint effort to implement infrastructure, programs and educational materials. An action plan will be included in the Safe Routes to School Plan that identifies responsibilities for action by various stakeholders including the City of Penticton, the School District, school administration and the Parent Advisory Committee. 

The City of Penticton partnered with Carmi Elementary and Uplands Elementary on a pilot project in 2023 to help identify safe routes to school using active transportation. Through public engagement and based on best practices, the plan supports safe and comfortable environments for students to walk, wheel and roll to school wherever possible.

The plans are living documents that will be reviewed annually by the City with the schools and will be used to develop an action and management plan for infrastructure upgrades identified through this process.

Now that these two studies are complete, the City plans to roll it out to roughly two schools each year. Next up are Columbia Elementary and Skaha Elementary.  

Next up: The City and the school district have agreed to prioritize both Columbia Elementary as well as Skaha Elementary.  Skaha Elementary will include working with the existing Parkway Elementary families and exploring how we can support their transition.  It will also include working with students and administration at Princess Margaret Secondary and the current Skaha Middle School.

Contact the City's Engineering department at engineering@penticton.ca