New bike lanes, crosswalks and signals kick off the school year at some Mesa schools

MESA, Ariz. (FOX 10) -- It's the first day of school for many kids in Mesa, and this school year, the city's transportation department has made some big changes to school zones to make sure kids make it to class safely.

Sometimes, all it takes a parent to notice something that needs to get fixed, and that's what happened here. As a result, folks heading back to class in Mesa at four different schools on Tuesday noticed some changes were made on the streets outside.

"It's going to be annoying trying to get around the rules, but I think it's a good idea,"

Change is getting tough to get used to, but parents like Guerrero don't seem to mind, for one good reason.

"It'll keep our kids safe, that's what matters," said Guerrero.

The City of Mesa revamped a few streets near Carson Junior High, located near the intersection of University Drive and Alma School Road, after one parent was paying attention.

"We had a resident actually call us and say, 'hey, my kid is biking to school and I feel like it's not really that safe,'" said Amy McConnell with City of Mesa Transportation. "We came out here and looked at it, and this is what our traffic engineers came up with."

New bike lanes, new crosswalks and wider sidewalks should ease the morning crunch.

"Now, we have dedicated bike lanes on both sides," said McConnell. "We have no parking, we have new crosswalks that we painted on, we improved a lot of the old sidewalks as well so the concrete is new and improved, all to get kids safer to school."

At Westwood High School, located near the intersection of Rio Salado Parkway and Alma School Road, drivers along Rio Salado Parkway will notice something more visible than a stop paddle.

"The cross guard will still be there [at Westwood High School], but they'll be the official button pusher for that pedestrian hybrid beacon," said McConnell.

Hermosa Vista Elementary School, located near the intersection Gilbert Road and Loop 202 Red Mountain Freeway, saw improvements in dealing with overflow for kids heading there. A lot of kids ride their bikes to school, and now there's more room to wait when they cross 24th Street to get to school. Parents should also take note, however, as there will be a lot less parking as a result.