STUDENTS TAKE CASE TO CITY BOWMAN HIGH TEENS WANT SCHOOL-AREA TRAFFIC HAZARDS ELIMINATED.

Byline: JUDY O'ROURKE

Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- Bowman High School students took their traffic safety concerns to the Santa Clarita City Council, asking the city to correct traffic hazards facing their fellow classmates.

Student presenters asked the council to fix several problems and put their school's safety quotient on par with that of other area schools.

"The council appreciated that these kids thought this was important enough, not just for their safety but for their fellow schoolmates', to bring this to our attention," Councilman Bob Kellar said. "They did it in a very thorough and professional manner. I thought it was an excellent presentation."

The students voiced concern for throngs of classmates forced to navigate an active railroad crossing and two busy intersections not marked with crosswalks every day just to get to class.

Bowman, a continuation campus, sits on a winding, hilly road that had little traffic because it dead-ended -- until recently. Now, the road connects to the Centre Pointe Business Park and receives more, and faster, traffic.

The impetus for the traffic project was a car crash near school that didn't kill anyone but was a close call.

"There's no price on a student's life," said Bowman senior Lauren Rowles, who spoke at City Hall on Tuesday. "We feel it's important that our students, who are like a family, get from home to school safely, and back."

Rowles, seniors Cristina Morgan and Sean Johnson, and about 16 others in a leadership class taught by Michael Coombe, Bowman's Associated Student Body director, developed the plan. They toiled for hours over several months packing their PowerPoint presentation with punch.

In December, they delivered the pitch to a receptive William S. Hart Union High School District board, and board member Gloria Mercado-Fortine and school Superintendent Jaime Castellanos backed them before the council Tuesday.

A survey of crosswalks in major and secondary streets near Saugus, Canyon and Valencia high schools spurred the students. They talked to others to gauge the magnitude of the problem.

Council members watched footage of a passing train with students on either side waiting to cross, and a student driving up the hill, where the school is visible before a 25mph sign, with "School" appearing in small letters.

The students have asked the city to pave a sidewalk over the train tracks, paint crosswalks at Golden Oak and Golden Triangle roads, and at Golden Triangle Road and Centre Pointe Parkway, and to install speed-limit and stop signs leading to the school.

Navigating the political process might prove easier than crossing the street.

Gus Pivetti, a senior traffic engineer for the city who has met with the students, said he was impressed with their work. The city has studied the traffic patterns and will paint crosswalks on those streets, he said.

Constructing a crossing over the train tracks could cost $750,000 and would require widening and reconfiguring the existing crossing. City officials might consider the issue, but Metrolink and the California Public Utilities Commission would need to get involved.

The city will install larger school area speed-limit signs on the approach to Bowman and paint pavement markings alerting drivers to the presence of students in the area. The city will consider relocating the municipal bus stop on Soledad Canyon Road closer to school.

Some months ago, the city installed a no-right-turn-on-red sign on Soledad Canyon at Golden Oak, and while drivers ignored it at first, few do so now.

"People would be turning right, and cars would be backed up over the railroad tracks while students were crossing the street," said Sgt. Richard Cohen, who heads the traffic detail at the local sheriff's station. "With the trains coming by, it created a hazard."

The intersection is now safer for drivers and students, Cohen said.

Coombe touted the merit of engaging students in political and municipal processes. "I think this is a perfect example of seeing one of the basic freedoms in the First Amendment, petitioning the government for redress," he said. "That's what they're doing."

For Rowles, it's a step closer to her career. She plans to major in law enforcement in college and hopes to become a California Highway Patrol officer.

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Photo:

Bowman High School students, from left, Lauren Rowles, 18, Cristina Morgan, 17, and Sean Johnson, 17, examine the intersection at Centre Pointe Parkway and Golden Triangle Road, which they say is one of several traffic hazards near their school. The students have asked the Santa Clarita City Council to help correct the hazards.

David Crane/Staff Photographer