‘We're trying to prevent the next tragic death’: Safety improvements to come after death of Woodburn student
For many Woodburn High School students, getting to school on time means a split-second decision — walk the nearly 2-mile trek to campus or take a shortcut that involves crossing railroad tracks and then crossing a two-lane street where no crosswalk exists.
But kids often ignore the dangers for the sake of speed, and it has become an issue of life and death.
Two students have died along these routes in recent years. Meanwhile, school and city leaders say something has to be done.
More than two months following the death of 17-year-old Jesus Garcia Santiago, the city and the school district are aggressively pushing for a new plan for pedestrian safety, including seeking state funds for major safety improvements to nearby roads and bridges.
On top of that, the city is undertaking a rail safety awareness program, which includes bilingual mailers, social media campaigns, public safety videos as well as on-site information.
Woodburn superintendent Joe Morelock said he would like the major safety improvements done yesterday.
"I don't believe this is as simple as putting up a few fences and making some walkways," Morelock said. "We know that people are going to choose to take the shortest route possible. What we're really hoping for is a comprehensive plan."
The incidents
Garcia Santiago was struck and killed by a train just before 8 a.m. on Dec. 2.
The student was walking northbound on the railroad tracks along the Front Street overpass when the train struck the student from behind, the Statesman Journal reported.
A GoFundMe page set up by his cousin, Nayelly Gonzalez, described him like "a brother who still had lots to accomplish in life." Her parents brought him from Oaxaca, Mexico, to Oregon when he was 8 years old.
"They wanted to provide him with the resources and with the opportunity for him to prosper in life since Jesus came from a family with little to no resources," Gonzalez wrote on the page.
The proposed improvements call for increased lighting at crucial points along the path to school as well as for an elevated pedestrian pathway over Highway 214.
A mother and her teenage daughter were struck by a car and killed while crossing the highway, which separates the high school and housing complexes, and as a result a new crosswalk and median were installed, according to a 2001 report from the Daily Journal of Commerce, a Portland-based business news site.
In 2014, the Statesman Journal reported a 13-year-old boy was struck and killed by a train near Waconda and Portland roads NE.
Early stages of proposed improvements
The city — with support from the district and the Oregon Department of Transportation — has recently written two grant proposals the city council is scheduled to discuss at its Monday meeting.
"We were already working on the majority of these projects prior to the (Woodburn High School student) fatality," said Tommy Moore, a public affairs and communications manager for the City of Woodburn. "Of course, the incident warranted an even more thorough review of potential safety measures that might help prevent similar accidents from occurring in the future.
"In 2022, the city hired a new special projects director (a position that did not exist previously) to support grant writing work to access new funding sources to help fund city priority projects, including safety improvements for our community and the Safe Routes to School program in August."
Grant proposals
The city recently submitted a grant application to a new ODOT fund called the Oregon Community Pathways program.
The program costs approximately $36.9 million for the fiscal year from 2022 to 2023, and if awarded, will fund five separate sections of the Mill Creek Greenway Trail Systems. It must be completed by October 2026.
"This new source of ODOT funding will offer improved multi-use trail access and safe routes for students and the public throughout our community," Moore said. "If awarded, this program requires a cash match of approximately $200,000, which the city has committed to providing."
He said the city was invited by ODOT to submit the Safe Routes to School Project Refinement grant application for up to $500,000, the maximum the program can award, according to ODOT.
While the district cannot apply to this program directly, the city is working on behalf of and in partnership with the district to bring additional funding to the area.
Community outreach
According to the 2020 census, Woodburn is 56% Hispanic, 38% white, nearly 2% Asian and 1% Black.
Morelock has started recruiting volunteers for a committee to help move the district's plans forward. Once the committee is established, he said they will start sending information, brainstorm and bring more awareness to the issues.
"We're going to need people to be engaged and be involved in this project," he said. "Unfortunately, we're talking about the tragic death of a student, but we're trying to prevent the next tragic death. That's really what we have to look forward to."
Edith Noriega is a sports and education reporter for the Statesman Journal. You may reach her at ENoriega@salem.gannett.com and follow her on Twitter at @Noriega_Edith.
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Woodburn student deaths spur pedestrian safety improvements
