Smith Valley School shares crosswalk concerns

Smith Valley School Principal Laili Komenda’s concerns about students crossing the busy highway in front of the school haven’t eased since she joined the district in 2010. 

So far, a student hasn’t been struck by a vehicle while crossing U.S. 2 and Batavia Lane, but Komenda and Smith Valley crossing guards Danielle Prichard and Judy Breland feel it’s a matter of time.

“It’s a matter of when, not if, but when,” Prichard said.

Prichard and Breland are the first and last line of defense in doing what they can to ensure vehicles are stopped. They don’t even attempt to stop semis.

Recently, the crossing guards were given additional safety gear to improve visibility in addition to the bright yellow safety vests and hand-held stop signs. LED night sticks and cameras were purchased by a Smith Valley parents group. The cameras are affixed to the hand-held stop signs to capture any footage if an accident did occur.

On Nov. 2 school was dismissed. Students who had to cross the highway gather in the gym. The purpose of corralling the students was to make one cross instead of several. After about 10 minutes Prichard and Breland picked up the nightsticks and stop signs and called the students over.

The group lined up and walked outside, past students playing in a fenced-in grassy field. Vehicles whized by the school and 45 mph speed limit signs flanked by flashing amber lights alert drivers of the school zone. The group stopped at a corner of the highway and Batavia Lane.

“We don’t normally let them go until the traffic is stopped,” Prichard said, before making a move to the center of the highway because vehicles don’t always stop right away. “People will go through even though we’re still out there.”

PRICHARD HAS been a crossing guard for about eight years and Breland for about 14. The feeling that their lives and children’s lives are at risk every day they cross hasn’t faded over the years. The prevalence of cell phones and texting has only heightened concerns.

“They aren’t paying attention as much — the drivers aren’t,” Breland said. “The other day I stepped out and I said, ‘Dani I don’t think that one is slowing down,’ and so I stepped back and he drove through 60 mph and all you could see was him texting. He never even saw us. Not one iota that we were out there. Blew through the whole thing. And both of us with kids behind us.”

If it’s foggy or the roads icy, Breland said, “it’s as scary as scary can be.”

Prichard recounted two close calls.

In one incident, Prichard recalled hearing the sound of squealing tires coming up to the line of stopped vehicles.

The other involved Breland.

“[A driver was] turning from the highway onto Batavia. I yelled at Judy because she had her sign up and was looking at the kids going across the highway and I had to yell at her because I honestly thought I was going to watch her get hit — it was that close,” Prichard said.

FROM 8 to 8:25 a.m. and from 3:25 to 3:30 p.m. the crossing guards are on duty. After 3:30 p.m., crossing guards are done for the day, but students are still crossing the busy roads when sports and activities let out in the evening, which upsets Komenda.

Recently she and Smith Valley parents have been in contact with Montana Department of Transportation and Montana Highway Patrol to see what can be done about the area of the school, U.S. 2 and Batavia Lane. Komenda said highway patrol has done extra patrol, which has helped, but parents and school staff are hoping for something permanent, such as reducing the speed to 35 mph or installing a traffic light. Komenda took it a step further to suggest a pedestrian bridge.

“They can build a bridge for elk in Evaro, can’t they do it for my kids here at school?” Komenda said.

In 2011, an intersection study at Batavia Lane was completed by the Montana Department of Transportation (MDT), but didn’t indicate an upgrade such as a traffic light was warranted. In a few years that changed when the department did a Road Safety Audit on U.S. 2 from Marion to Kalispell. The audit resulted in “many recommendations to look at for possible improvements along the corridor,” including the Batavia Lane intersection, which has experienced an increase in traffic in that time, James Freyholtz, Montana Department of Transportation traffic engineer for the Kalispell area, said.

“MDT evaluates the area to determine if a signal would help make the situation better or create more problems than it would solve,” Freyholtz said.

Freyholtz said a signal or roundabout is being considered at the Batavia Lane intersection in addition to an intersection of U.S. 2, Dern Road and West Springcreek Road, with the caveat that there are a host of other important projects on the list.

A crash history of the Batavia Lane intersection was provided by Freyholtz and from 2005 to 2010 there were 10 crashes in the vicinity. Six of the crashes were related to the intersection; three were related to vehicles leaving or entering a gas station off U.S. 2; and one crash was not related to either approach, according to Freyholtz.

For now, Prichard gave a reminder to drivers.

“If they see us on the edge of the road they should be stopping,” Prichard said.

Reporter Hilary Matheson can be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.