lol.. oops..

Floyd Dryden

I live off that particular traffic light, and drive to and from work every week-day morning and evening cringing as I watch idiot drivers who don't know what "Left turn yield" means, so the drivers across the light with the right of way pause and hesitate, slowing the entire process, followed by those in a rush who don't care about running red lights. To think pedestrians are safe at that particular light is an ill-informed opinion. Ask the kids' opinions, not the grown-ups. The company, whose truck driver was at fault for running into the bridge, should have their insurance company rebuild the bridge, or pay for it out of pocket.

Retarded! Build the stupid bridge back. ADA standards my hiney! How many wheel chair based people are there running around Juneaus streets? Not many as the city doesn't plow the sidewalks very often. So, in winter, when school is in session, any kids in wheelchairs can't get around anyway. I used it fairly often and I am not even in that area. It was just a safer easier way to cross a very crazy road.

It is the parents duty to care for them, not the states. Stop using Skylar as a reason for the overpass. He was going to breakfast, not school.(yes the breakfast was being served at the school). I thought he was on a bicycle, the overpass was there during both deaths you cite as need for it. Perhaps if a parent got up, fed their child, and took them to school or at least walk them past the danger, he would be alive today.
The overpass was the most underused part of loop rd.

Dont go around calling wonderful people idiots for making mistakes. I'd like to see you do the work those people do and see if you make any mistakes at the end of a long hard ass day. [filtered word] happens and dont you think maybe the person feels pretty bad for what happened. Think about peoples feelings before you open your big mouth!!!!

My daughter uses the cross over bridge just about every day. And in the winter i feel that is the best way to cross. With some of the people at the light and the way they drive, i feel that it is MUCH safer way to cross over. I really feel that if the compay (the driver) of the truck that hit the bridge did not hit well then the bridge would still be there. What's up? The company should pay to fix it!

I'm not blaming the driver, but i'm sure the company has insurance and they should pay for some of it and the city can pay to have it rebuilt. There has been to many "close calls" at the 4-way light.

gonesailing, I apologize. I do not know the man and maybe I had some harsh words spawned by my disappointment of the destruction of what I see as not only a landmark, but a safety concern.

To the poster that made the comment that the kids have been hit while the overpass was there, back when I was walking to school that intersection was fenced off. There was no crossing the street there, nobody did it. And if I was riding my bike I would carry it over the overpass. If my child was crossing the street there it would be MANDITORY they use the overpass. It's common sense. Just compare, here they might get hit by a car, there they can't be hit by a car. Here is convenient, there they get a bit of exercise. To me this is a no brainer.

We sacrificed safety for convenience. Now we're sacrificing safety for compliance. We are sacrificing safety of the many so that what would be maybe, maybe, one or two people in wheelchairs using it each year.

Regarding compliance, why would it have to meet ADA standards? If a bar has a pool table upstairs then it is required to have a wheelchair lift. But if there are pool tables downstairs and the upstairs does not offer anything that the downstairs does not provide, then I don't believe it is out of compliance. Just the fact that there is a crosswalk nearby for people with disabilities, wouldn't that mean that the overpass could be built and be in compliance without meeting ADA standards?

Regarding an underpass, that sounds like the best alternative. Though I would be concerned about a dark tunnel in that neighborhood. Seems like it would be a prime place for stalkers, drunks, druggies, rapists, vandals and molesters to congregate. Besides the fact that the water table there might be problematic.

my 2cents... I have had kids at GVS for years now they are at FD & TM, none of them used it. Driving to daycare and schools in the mornings I never seen any kids there. I grew up here and went to GV and we never used it. (( I am sure there are those who use it ))

However I do think that the company who hit it should be footing the bill for a tear down or replacement.

I think we should build a ADA approved crosswalk it's stupid we don't have one. While I never saw people use the old bridge I did see idiot drivers in a hurry not waiting for handicapped people, kids on & off bikes. An overpass with the ramps would welcome both children on bikes and handicapped individuals. I have seen many of these in the lower 48's and they can be very nice structures that invite use over dodging cars.

Skyler's death wouldn't have been preventing by the overpass, a lot of kids ride their bikes so ramped overpass would keep our kids safer. But given all the school cuts, tantrums over the new pool, and stuff it's pretty clear that our youth is not this towns top priority.

What do the students of Floyd Dryden have to do with this bridge? It's the younger elementary school kids going to Glacier Valley that this bridge keeps safe.

I think it's terrible that as soon as that light got put in at the Steven Richards/Loop Road intersection kids began getting struck by cars and killed. Young kids sometimes make bad decisions about when it's safe to cross the street, and I'm sorry to say but there are a TON of drivers in Juneau that lack the skills needed to be safe on the road.

I'm seeing more and more instances of drivers making a right turn at a red light who pull into traffic while still looking to the left at the oncoming traffic and almost kill someone crossing the street in front of them that they never even turn to see. JPD really needs to start enforcing safe driving laws.

I have no issue with replacing it with an ADA approved bridge. But if the reason that we're not building it for the 99% that are not disabled that would use the bridge and make them safer for it is because the cost or ability to build a new bridge and make it ADA compliant is not possible, then we're simply not puting safety first. We are saying that since we cannot provide an ADA compliant bridge for the two people per year that would go over it who are disabled, we are going to put the other children going to Glacier Valley at risk.

If we can build an ADA compliant bridge then GREAT! If we can't, I think it's stupid to disregard the safety and well being of the 5-10-year-old children crossing the street there.

In my opinion, the crosswalk should be removed from that intersection fencing it off like it was in the early 80's and an ADA compliant bridge be built. But maybe I put safety of children before some other parents in this community.

I also believe the light should be removed from the Floyd Dryden entrance and an ADA compliant bridge be built there. Especially since a regular intersection only has red, yellow and green and the crosswalk in front of that school has four different signals, no light, yellow light, solid red light and flashing red light. One day maybe someone should sit there and count the cars that don't know how to use that light. If that light remains there, maybe there should be a sign that tells people what they are supposed to do on a flashing red light because nobody seems to know.

I'm sure an ADA compliant bridge at Floyd Dryden would relieve traffic congestion and make our kids safer.

I really do not know how common they are, but in my hometown (Evansville, Indiana) the local police department has a special section of employees. They are crossing guards that work 30-45 minutes each morning and afternoon while school is in session at the most heavily used crosswalk/traffic intersections in the proximity of grade schools. The direct the children across the street and they have the authority to write traffic citations (but that is the extent of their authority). Also, we had always had an extracurricular program where upper grade students would work with the crossing guards (and alone at minor lower traffic intersections); they had whistles and pole flags and they also directed children safely across the street. One long tweet was notice that a flag was going out and you could proceed across the street; two short tweets was notice all kids were safely across and the flag was being brought back in. I really don't know how much it took to fund this. Evansville is a big town, but the adult guards got very little for their part time pay and the kids, well, we did it just because when it was cold (below freezing) we got an extra fifteen minutes where we went in and the kitchen staff made us hot cocoa. I think something similar could be done at several locations here...not just the intersection everyone is discussing.

I am Skyler's mother. I have moved away but keep up on the news and was glad to read that they will not rebuild that overpass, but cringed when I saw Skyler being mentioned. What most appalled me was the comment from AKman 59. How dare you say what you said! You have no idea what happened that day or the circumstances and it makes me sick to think that people still believe if I had done something different, or he had done something different or the driver did something different he would be alive? It has been 8 years and I still question that but YOU are NOBODY and have no right or business commenting on something you know nothing about!