Genesee Avenue widening: safety concerns at Governor Drive

The photographs below show a crowd of (eastbound) Standley Middle School students crossing Genesee Avenue, on the north side of the Governor Drive intersection, at 3:40 pm on a typical weekday afternoon. Currently these students must cross six lanes of traffic. The widening of Genesee Avenue would increase this to nine lanes.

Due to the extremely long cycle time for the light (three minutes at peak), crowds of students amass at the corners, often spilling out into the street. With the grade separation alternative, the cycle time would be brought down to closer to one minute, there would be only four lanes of traffic to cross, thousands of vehicles would be removed from the intersection during peak hours, and two broad 54' wide pedestrian safe zones on either side of Governor Drive would both increase the capacity for pedestrians (no more kids spilling out into the street) as well as their safety and convenience.