On Thursday, June 2, 20222, Rowan Foster, a Sophomore at Ingraham High School and member of the Aurora Reimagined Coalition, led a walk audit around Ingraham High School and Aurora Ave N. The main purpose of the walk was to observe how Ingraham students move around the school and how It could be safer for them.
One area of focus was on N 131st Street between Ashworth and Stone which is a major thoroughfare for students. This street lacks full sidewalks and is generally unpleasant to walk down.
Another area of focus was on the Ashworth greenway that will connect Northgate elementary to Ingraham once the traffic light at 130th and Ashworth is installed next summer. Other points of interest were the proposed N 128th street bike pathway connecting the Interurban bike trail to the new light rail station at 130th Street and the mixed-use trail proposed on Stone Ave south of N 125th Street.
As part of his Math class, Rowan conducted and analyzed a transportation survey at Ingraham High School and found that 73% of IHS staff and students drive compared to 18% that take public transit. Many of the stated reasons people choose to drive are safety-related: concerns around COVID and dangerous people and situations on public transit, which was an especially common response from female-identifying respondents. Another reason was timing: most bus trips would be 3x times longer, especially when using East-West bus routes.