Oakmont girl's crosswalk project aims to improve pedestrian safety

An Oakmont girl’s summer project could have a lasting impact on her hometown.

Audrey Myers, a ninth-grader at Riverview High School, examined about 120 intersections.

She noted the quality of the crosswalks and wherther there were sidewalk ramps. Audrey also took photos of all the intersections.

“I was really happy and proud taking on this project,” Audrey said. “I really like how I thought about it on my own, and how this will help in the future with walking home from school and things like that.”

She submitted her data to the borough in March. Officials put that data into an interactive dashboard for Oakmont’s geographic information systems a few months later.

“It’s a fairly extensive spreadsheet,” Senate Engineering GIS Manager Dan Leininger said . “They did some nice work on it. What she had supplied was very easy for me to work with.”

According to Audrey’s report, 53 of the intersections examined had crosswalks while 61 only had sidewalk ramps.

Out of those crosswalks, seven were listed in good condition, 20 in fair condition, 21 were poor and three earned mixed reviews.

Audrey said crosswalks near Tenth Street Elementary School were in good condition, while those along Allegheny River Boulevard were deemed to be poor.

Borough officials can use the dashboard with Audrey’s data and photos to determine priorities for pedestrian safety measures.

“When you start looking how much money is spent on painting, it allows you to do a much better assessment,” Leininger said.

Borough Manager Scot Fodi gave Audrey rave reviews in her evaluation.

“Without exaggeration, the quality of work Audrey submitted, and in the timeframe it was compiled, would rival the work of an undergraduate college student studying a form of civil engineering that focused on traffic and pedestrian safety engineering,” Fodi wrote.

“Her study area was practically the entire borough’s 24 miles of roadway.”

Myers was inspired to do this work by her journeys with friends to and from school and other parts of the borough.

“I was just making sure the crosswalks were good and not worn,” she said. “I would see if the paint on the crosswalk was bright enough, and if it was really worn to where you couldn’t see it at all.

“It was very time-consuming. You had to make time to go out, and you don’t want to miss anything. You wanted a good photo so you could see everything.”

The mapping could eventually become public for all to see. For now, it will be another layer in Oakmont’s GIS.

“This map will be the basis for the borough moving forward to develop a multi-year pedestrian crossing improvement plan we can utilize to develop priority lists and annual budgets,” Fodi said. “The study in and of itself was an incredible task to undertake, let alone complete.”

Myers is a member of Girl Scout Troop 52359 in Oakmont and Boy Scout Troop 9143 in Monroeville.

Her efforts will go toward her Girl Scouts Silver Award.

Her parents, Paul and Jill Myers, are Scout leaders, and her twin brother, Spencer, is involved with Scouts, too.

Jill Myers said the paperwork for Audrey’s Silver Award has been submitted to the Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania. It is unclear when the award would be given.

“I was impressed because this is an idea that she came up with all on her own,” Jill Myers said. “As a Girl Scout group, we all sat down and brainstormed ideas we thought we could do as projects. At the silver level, you’re allowed to do it as a group of two or three.

“Audrey had this idea that she thought about because she does a lot of walking between school and with the dog. She thought she could do something for the community.”

Leininger, a 1979 Riverview graduate who grew up in Oakmont, said Myers’ project made him feel proud as an alumnus.

“It’s really nostalgic to work in Oakmont and then see something like this come to completion,” Leininger said. “There’s a sense of community pride there with me. I welcomed the opportunity when Scot was sending it our way.”

Leninger encouraged more students to get involved with their communities and seek out opportunities to help.