Fitness effort prompts changes

Every little bit helps.

 

A group teaming up with three Catholic schools in Omaha as it encourages walking, biking and other ways of reducing obesity recently learned pedestrian crossing times will be lengthened by 15 seconds between 3:15 p.m. and 4 p.m. at a corner near All Saints School. 

 

Encouraged by the ongoing Safe Routes to School program, Omaha city workers also repainted crosswalks near Sacred Heart and Holy Name schools, increasing safety this fall for the more than 380 children at those schools. 

 

Walk times at 10th and William streets near All Saints School already were 43 seconds from 8 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. during the school year, compared with 28 seconds the rest of the year. The recent change extends that 43-second crossing time to 4 p.m. 

 

“Specifically, this allows 50-plus children at All Saints to safely cross in large groups from their school to the (St. Frances) Cabrini Parish Center for after-school programming,” said Sheena Helgenberger, director of Live Well Omaha Kids and grants manager for Live Well Omaha, which partnered with Children's Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha for the Safe Routes initiative.