Student Raising Money for Lighted Crosswalks Near Casa Grande

Fed up with seeing students and people in the community struck by cars near Casa Grande High School, a student at the school has been raising money to put in a lighted crosswalk at Ely Boulevard and Spoonbill Avenue.

"People walk to football games and are always crossing there," said Michelle Boggs, 18, a senior at Casa who lives near the school.

"But there is no lights, you can’t see anything and drivers are just flying by."

Boggs has already raised $1,000 and will be holding a fundraising brunch today at Tres Hombres restaurant downtown. It starts at 11:30am and all proceeds from the $20 brunch and live and silent auction will go to help pay for the crosswalk.

Luckily, Boggs will be helped in endeavor by a grant the city received last month from the Department of Transportation  for $173,000, which will fund two crosswalks in the area, one at Ely and Spoonbill and the other at Casa Grande and Crinella. But the city needs to come up with an additional $29,000 before work can begin, and Boggs is hoping to chip in with her contribution as much as she can.

"We started fundraising long before there was a grant because the city hasn't had the money over the past couple of years and it's really important to do this," Boggs said.

Both intersections lie along two main walking and bicycling routes to the high school and are near where several students were struck by cars last year. On August 27, a 17-year-old student was hit by a car while crossing at Crinella Drive and on September 8, two Casa High School track athletes broke their legs after they were struck by a car as their team crossed the intersection at Sonoma Mountain Parkway and Monroe.

At the time police attributed the accidents to the sun being low on the horizon, which they said possibly blinded drivers. Still, the city thought the problem was serious enough to warrant applying for a grant that would allow it to purchase lighted crosswalks, which cost roughly $50,000 each.