Active students help Birralee Primary School fight traffic congestion

BIRRALEE Primary School parents are parking further away from class and encouraging their kids to walk the rest of the way.

Birrallee Primary School has used colourful on-footpath decorations to map out routes for kids to follow to school.

BIRRALEE Primary School parents are parking further away from class and encouraging their kids to walk the rest of the way.

The school has painted markers on footpaths near the school to help kids learn routes from drop-off points further away, with a new crossing in Wilsons Rd also coming in handy.

And the benefit is twofold with the students getting an early-morning walk in as well as fighting traffic congestion in Heyington Ave.

Leader reported last August soaring enrolments in recent years — the school had about 150 in 2013 and has 400 kids this year — have led to chaos at drop-off and pick-up time in the suburban street outside its main entrance.

Initiatives to decorate nearby footpaths with colourful markers are helping students learn different routes from the immediate neighbourhood around the school, giving parents the confidence to park a bit further away.

Adrian Pyle, a member of the school’s Active Travel Parent Committee, said the initiatives had been funded from about $3000 worth of Manningham Council grants.

Mr Pyle said parking further away was the most sensible means to ease congestion in Heyington Ave.

“This meant working with Manningham Council to improve the quality of footpaths on certain preferred walking routes to schools, parking restrictions on Heyington Ave and a new supervised crossing in Wilsons Rd,” he said.