Projects Underway To Keep Tulsa Children Safe As They Walk To School

The City of Tulsa is working on dozens of projects to protect children while they walk to school.

Taxpayers agreed to spend nearly $14.5 million for 104 different projects to make kids safer.

Seventeen Union schools, 82 Tulsa schools, and five Jenks schools are getting upgrades.  These projects all focus on safety outside the classroom.

“We found that we had an unacceptable number of children getting hit by cars when they are trying to do the simple act of walking to and from school,” said Tulsa Mayor GT Bynum.

The Vision Tulsa Public Schools Safety Initiative is paying for new sidewalks, speed humps, lighting, and crosswalks to keep kids from walking on streets and keeping them out of danger.

“In the past, it was always just assumed that schools would take care of their self and the City would take care of their self, but you know, as things change over time, it was time for us to try to step up and ask the voters to see if we can help our school system, help our children,” said City Councilor David Patrick.

Superintendent Deborah Gist says a safety review was performed for every school in the city and then they got to work.

“Sort of a safety audit, I guess you could call it,” said Gist.  “We prioritized the schools based on need.  Every school needed something a little bit different.”

So far, 17 of the projects are either complete or are almost complete.

No word yet on when the rest of the projects will be done.