News

U.S. 64 at Valley getting high-visibility crosswalk

By Bill Moss, Published: March 1, 2018

School crossing guard Kim Bertram had an easy gig when he started directing traffic at Bruce Drysdale Elementary School.
“Traffic has changed a lot,” he said. “I used to have a nice white belt. Now we have neon jackets.”
They’re needed, he said, because of the way “the traffic comes flying” at his current post, on U.S. 64 at North Whitted and Valley streets, where he directs traffic for Hendersonville elementary and middle schools. Cars race by on heavily traveled U.S. 64, endangering schoolchildren.
Bertram noted that a Ninth Avenue traffic study in April 2016 recommended that the state install a high visibility crosswalk. “So that’s what I’d like to have happen,” he said.
And it looks like that will.
Bertram visited associate schools superintendent John Bryant to ask for help.
“I went back for a follow-up and he told me (NCDOT District Engineer) Steve Cannon said we will install ASAP next week. It’s been a long icy winter,” Bertram said.
He thanked crosswalk guard supervisor Anita Lockhart and police Capt. Bruce Simonds for their support. Simonds sent more police cruisers to the scene.
“But it’s still not quite safe and a car flies right by me,” Bertram said. “There’s a patrol car 200 feet away and the cars still fly.”