More than 300 students who relied on a pedestrian bridge over Bangerter Highway to get too and from school, are now getting a lift from UDOT. They’re funding buses to help get the students at Oquirrh Elementary across the busy highway.
A new pedestrian bridge was supposed to have been completed before the start of the new school year, but that didn’t happen. Oquirrh Principal Mandy Thurman said making the students cross Bangerter Highway wasn’t an option for her.
“I think it’s definitely necessary to have something like this,” Thurman said. “I would have been a strong advocate if they were to walk across Bangerter. I don’t feel that could be safe at any level.”
UDOT has been working on a redesigned intersection at Bangerter and 7200 South. As part of that redesign, the old pedestrian bridge was torn down. The new bridge isn’t expected to be ready until the end of October.
For now, the school is using five extra buses to move 320-students into their neighborhoods. Parents like Jill Burton were wary at first. Now she likes it. In fact, she said she’ll be sad when the new bridge is ready.