Strategic Planning for Safer Student Travel in Southeast Idaho
What does it take for a student walking to school in Pocatello, Idaho, to reach their destination safely? The Southeast Idaho Council of Governments (SICOG) is determined to find the answer and pave the way for more trustworthy and secure travel patterns for the community’s children.
Community-Driven Efforts to Improve Student Travel Safety
In 2025, Kimley-Horn completed two Safe Routes to School travel plan projects for rural Idaho communities alongside SICOG. This year, we were selected to complete another travel plan for Syringa Elementary School in Pocatello—which involves identifying challenges, collecting data about travel patterns and risks, and developing a report with proposed solutions.
As part of this effort, the Kimley-Horn team and SICOG planned, coordinated, and executed a walk audit to spotlight concerns along common pathways to Syringa Elementary School, which EastIdahoNews.com spotlighted. In addition to gathering insights from walk audit volunteers, we held a community meeting at the school to hear input and collect crash data, school policy information, student travel tallies, and parent surveys.
One area of concern is the Hiline Road and Pearl Street intersection, which is frequented by speeding drivers and students needing to cross to get to and from school. The travel plan report, projected to be completed in June, will prioritize projects like this intersection that the school and other agencies can use to evaluate solutions and apply for funding to further safety.
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