The safety of children was the focus of a public meeting about two intersections near Lowell Elementary School held by St. Louis County Public Works on Tuesday March 11th.

The meeting was a part of their research into two intersections, the first intersection is at Rice Lake Road and Barnes Road, which is used as a pick up and drop off spot for kids at Lowell elementary. The other intersection is at West Arrowhead Road and Madison Avenue which is used to get to the Aspenwood condominiums.

They’re looking into things like lane configurations, accommodations for pedestrians, and more to make the intersections better, and safer to use.

In May of last year, a school bus and vehicle got into an accident in the area. The intersections have been a concern for residents for a long time.

“Thank you for addressing this. I addressed it with PTA in 2001 when my daughter attended Lowell,” said longtime resident Carol Herman. “I was able to take pictures and videos of logging trucks, school buses, and passenger cars, all converging on the entrance of Lowell School at the same time.”

Leaders for the project told us that public input helps them make better plans as research continues.

“For traffic safety solutions to be successful, one of the ingredients is consensus,” said St Louis County traffic engineer Victor Lund. “We’re hoping that we can have this two-way conversation. We understand that there’s not going to be a universal agreement that there never is, which is totally okay.