Fort Mill Parents Start Petition for Pedestrian Pathways Between Homes and Schools

 

 

 

FORT MILL, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) These Fort Mill parents are worried about their children safely walking and biking to and from school. Parents in neighborhoods that surround Catawba Ridge High School and a new middle school coming to the area, Forest Creek Middle, want walkways extended from the schools to their communities.

Amy Boulris is a mother of three — two of her kids will be heading to middle school this fall. She wants kids in her neighborhood to be able to walk and bike to school.

“Yeah so we just moved into the neighborhood in July and saw the new high schools at the front of the Whites Road and Fort Mill bypass and they’re building a new middle school across the street that will open in the fall. We’re so excited to be convenient to the schools. But I found out recently that they’re not connecting the sidewalk between the middle school their constructing and the neighborhoods,” says Boulris.

The pedestrian gap is less than a mile between the schools and surrounding neighborhoods. While Fort Mill’s school district leaders are in support of safer pathways for students, it’s an issue out of their hands.

Joe Burke with Fort Mill School District says, “We would love to see them there, obviously. We try to work with anybody we can, but at this time the district is not able to build on the sites simply because we just do not own them.”

Leaders from the SCDOT say South Carolina got $4.5 million in 2020 from the federal government for communities to pursue projects like this one.

Pete Poore, the director of communications at SCDOT, suggest parents submit an application to the Rock Hill/Fort Mill Area Transportation Study for further review.

“We’re hoping for this to make our town better, we want kids to be safe, we want everyone to be able to get to school at the end of the day,” says Boulris.

In the video above, CN2’s Rachel Richardson is speaking with parents about the project they hope to get going.

Parent Petition Link: https://www.change.org/login_or_join/redirected?redirectTo=%2Fp%2Ftown-of-fort-mill-sidewalk-access-to-catawba-ridge-high-school-and-forest-creek-middle-school%2Fdashboard

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