First-person account of walking on Wheelers Farms Road
By Rich Scinto
I've heard stories from my grandparents about walking two miles in the snow to go to school. Some Milford residents who go the the Trumbull Regional Agriscience and Biotechnology Center program have to do just that. Well, there is no snow for now, but the walk is more than two miles.
In the good spirit of journalism (and because I didn't want to be one-upped by John Burgeson at the Post) I decided to walk most of the route myself, starting at the bus stop.
The first obstacle is a narrow bridge that hovers over the Wasson Connector. There is no designated sidewalk for pedestrians to cross. The side is overgrown with grass and weeds. The only options a pedestrian has is to either walk in the middle of the road or trudge through the grass. I took the latter option because I wasn't keen on writing a first-person account of getting run over.
Most of the walk doesn't have sidewalks. Sometimes this isn't a problem because there is short grass on the side of the road that is fine for walking. Other times, I was hugging guardrails only a few feet from passing cars.
You may have noticed the footage of my walk was shaky; I assure you I wasn't attempting to go for the Blair Witch Project. I noticed that cars happened to go a lot slower when you point a camera at them, so I started shooting from the hip.
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| There really is no ideal time to cross, so I crossed my fingers and ran. |
Most of the route doesn't have lighting, which wasn't a problem for me because I was walking around 3:00 p.m. However, most of these students start walking around 5:45 a.m.and like that famous Game of Thrones saying "winter is coming" along with shorter daylight hours.
To tell the truth, I don't know where people are going to walk when it starts snowing and snow plows start making banks on the sides of roads. There may literally be people walking in the middle of the street on some parts of this route.
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| Pricked one too many times in the grass, so I took my chances in the road. |
I'm sure there will be at least one comment online on my article about someone telling their account of how they walked two miles in the snow when they were a kid. Wheelers Farms Road was very different decades ago in terms of traffic.
Since there are no sidewal;ks in this area it is a no brainer that children cannot be asked to walk to the bus stop. Pwerhaps the answer is a central bus stop at Parsons, were parents have to drop their children each morning. This would be the safeest and most cost efficient way to handle buses to make it fair for all.
ReplyDelete@Mark Lofthouse - Central stops have been set up. 5 of them throughout the city. And the board has said the intent was never that these kids would walk to these stops but expected parents to take some responsibility to get their kids to the bus. They have taken the extra step to open the two high schools to these now Trumbull students at the end of the day so they can take the bus there and wait for a ride. These parents are not happy with these options. They want their door to door stops up back.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update on the 5 stops. I heard about them. My thought was just ONE central stop. Much easier.
ReplyDeleteForcing anyone to walk Wheelers Farm Road is despicable. Why is the Board of Education punishing children for pursuing a career that Milford does not offer? If walking over 2 miles on a street without sidewalks is acceptable by the BoE for Vo-Ag students, then do the same for ALL bused students.
ReplyDeleteFrank J Goodrich
LOL Mark Lofthouse. These parents are complaining about the 5. Can just imagine the uproar if it was just one. And to Frank Goodrich, the only one forcing these students to walk on Wheelers Farms Road are the parents.
ReplyDeleteListen to the audio---does this guy sound like Paul Teutul Sr. from Orange County Choppers or what?
ReplyDeleteThese children are being singled out due to VO AG. It costs less to send the kids to VO AG - under 8K per vs over 10K per in MILFORD. This is just a way to try to thwart the option that these kids have taken to keep the money in the Milford system. There is not one other place in Milford where Kids have to walk 2 miles to a bus stop - this is just stupid an vindictive. Milford must supply these kids transport to & from VO AG - why should these kids be treated diffrent than other kids in the Milford System? This is in now way Parents ot taking responsibility. No other kids are asked or expected to walk this distance - it shows how inept Jimmy R is now making well over 100K himself ithout one bit of formal Educational background. This is not lazy parents - they have done nothing wrong - but avail themselves to School Choice under the State Law and Milfords BOE action is disgraceful.
ReplyDelete