The City of Steinbach has approved a new crosswalk to be built in the Hanover School Division (HSD).
Joe Thiessen, the division's superintendent, says his team made the request for a crosswalk at McKenzie Avenue and Parkland Drive at the end of February, in preparation for the opening of Parkhill School.
"We thank the City of Steinbach for approving a new pedestrian crossing to serve Parkhill School," Thiessen says. "As a Division, we value this collaborative effort to support the well-being of our students."
He says the crosswalk an important add as the are continues to grow, and enrollment blooms.
"Over 100 students, we believe, will be crossing from the south side of McKenzie to the north side to attend school on a daily basis," he says, adding the division anticipates that number to grow as developments in the area grow.
"We're just trying to see this ahead of time, and prepare for it from a safety point."
To complement the crosswalk will be a crossing guard to safely held students get to school and home each day.
"McKenzie Avenue is a busy street, and a highly visible crosswalk would serve the children in the area greatly from a safety perspective," Thiessen says.
This is especially true given how young the students walking through the area will be, he notes, as Parkhill will be a Kindergarten to grade four school.
He says HSD requested that the new crosswalk look and function similarly to the one at McKenzie Avenue and Giesbrecht Street.
In a statement to SteinbachOnline, the City of Steinbach says it conducted a pedestrian control analysis once it received the HSD's crosswalk request.
"Based on enrollment figures provided by the Division, the analysis supports the installation of a pedestrian crossing at this location," the city says.
It says the new crossing will be installed for the 2025/26 school year.
As far as construction on Parkhill School goes, Thiessen says the update the division received about a week ago was promising, and progress is still being made.
"We're just very thankful that we have this new school, and we're nearing the entry stage this fall. That's going to be so good to be able to alleviate some of the stress on our other schools in the division," he says.
"It makes a lot of sense, especially for the way the City of Steinbach is growing, and the way our community is located, I think that it's really going to fit well."