Safer routes to school: St Mary's Primary School Shawbury

St Mary’s Primary School has one of the best-used school bike sheds in Shropshire. Therefore it seems appropriate that this school, located on the edge of Shawbury, has recently benefitted from the installation of a Toucan crossing.

A Toucan crossing is a type of crossing that allows pedestrians and cyclists to cross together. They have built in sensors checking to see if anyone is still crossing the road which means less delays, stopping traffic only for as long as it takes for people to cross the road and protecting people crossing by a red traffic light until they reach the other side of the road. There is no flashing amber phase.

The Toucan crossing, officially opened in April 2007, is located on the B5063 Wem Road, and will help children and parents to cross over between the school, and homes on the nearby RAF base. It follows a campaign by local residents and parents to replace the old zebra crossing with signals.

The works were funded through the Council’s Local Transport Plan ‘Safer Routes to School’ programme. Additional funding was awarded from Sustrans and Cycling England as part of their ‘links to schools’ programme.

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