While an extension of the Missouri Pacific Trail to Iola’s new elementary school is not yet open, some already have begun using the path to get to school.
The city isn’t going to chase the kids off the trail, even though ADA cutouts and curbs and crosswalks along the extension are not in place, Assistant City Administrator Corey Schinstock told City Council members Monday.
However, it would behoove motorists to be alert when traveling through the area, now that school has started.
When complete, the MoPac trail will connect the school through the middle part of town to the Prairie Spirit Trail on the west edge of Iola, following the former Missouri Pacific rail corridor.
The start of school brought heavy traffic to the new school on the first day of classes last Wednesday, but seems to have settled down significantly since then, although congestion at the end of each school day is still an issue.
Schinstock said the city assisted the school district by painting some traffic lanes in the elementary school parking lot to help direct traffic, and officers will continue monitoring traffic flow.
“I was expecting total bedlam” when school began, Councilman Nich Lohman admitted.
Rather, the new school year brought what Lohman described as “Iola rush hour,” or “having to wait more than 10 seconds before turning at a stop sign.”
SPEAKING OF crosswalks, Councilman Josia D’Albini asked Schinstock once again about adding a crosswalk to accommodate Allen Community College students crossing North Cottonwood street to the ACC campus from White Boulevard.
Adding a crosswalk there would require cutting into the curbs and sidewalks for an ADA ramp, Schinstock noted, “which is really the landowner’s responsibility.”
Still, the city would be willing to work with the college if it wants to pursue a crosswalk there, Schinstock said.
And Max Grundy, who lives near the intersection of Kentucky Street and North Dakota Road, asked about the potential for adding stop signs along Kentucky Street along that block.
Motorists along that stretch of road “drive pretty fast,” Grundy said, and recently he saw a dog hit there.
With increased foot traffic in that part of town, a stop sign would be prudent, Grundy said.
Schinstock said the city would look into Grundy’s request.
