Will kids walk to school?

With just 15 percent of students walking to school, the Napa County Transportation and Planning Agency will hold its final community public meeting on Napa’s Transportation Future on National Walk to School Day.

The day and the meeting are Oct. 3 at the Napa Valley College Upper Valley campus on Pope Street in St. Helena. The meeting is at 6 p.m.

A generation or two ago, more than half of all students nationally walked to school, said agency officials, citing national statistics.

Today about 60 percent are transported by private auto. This not only clogs roadways at rush hour, but robs young people of an opportunity for exercise, officials said.

Reasons for the decline in walking to school include new housing that is distant from schools and parents’ concern about traffic hazards and predators.

The agency is trying to put together a transportation plan for coming decades that reflects community desires.

If more students are to walk or bike to school, that will require more sidewalks and safe bike lanes, safer crosswalks and crossing guards near schools, the NCPTA said.

Additional information about these public forums is available at www.nctpa.net or 259-8631./Register

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