Elenda Street will be closed to cars for a car-free school commute in celebration of Earth Day on Tuesday, April 22nd.
For one morning, CCUSD students in the area will be able to experience a car free route to school. Students will be able to walk, bike, skate, scoot or use transit without cars.
Culver City High School, Culver City Middle School and Farragut Elementary will be hosting Earth Day celebrations to promote climate-conscious decisions. Culver CityBus, Culver City PD and Culver City’s Sustainability Team will be distributing educational information in front of the high school as part of the celebration. Students will be encouraged to register beforehand and pledge to use alternative transportation that day.
The open streets event is part of the City-wide Culver City Safe Routes to School program that encourages families to rethink their commutes to school in an effort to reduce traffic and create safer, cleaner school communities. The event is supported by Culver City Police Department and Culver CityBus.
The first of its kind, two-hour, open streets event will allow for kids to have one day with a car free route to school along CCUSD’s busiest school commute corridor. The event will also broaden conversations on safety, transportation and environmental issues. Parents are encouraged to park and walk with their students three blocks from campus, or drop their students along Huron, Coombs, the parking lot at Culver/Elenda or at the pedestrian bridge, north of Ballona Creek.
“Providing students with safer routes to school is the cornerstone of the program,” said Jim Shanman, Culver City Safe Routes to School Coordinator. “We are excited to host this one time event to demonstrate the value of removing cars from the equation and demonstrating to parents that parking just a few blocks away is not as hard as it seems”.
The street will be closed to car traffic starting at 6 AM and reopened at 9:30 AM. Parents that need to drive are encouraged to use side streets as alternatives, drop their kids off a few blocks from the school or use transit and avoid driving in this area altogether. Residents who will need to use their cars that morning are encouraged to park outside the event zone the night before.
City of Culver City