DATE: Sunday, November 9, 1997              TAG: 9711090056

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DENISE WATSON, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   55 lines

CAUTION LIGHTS NOW ON NEAR CAMPOSTELLA SCHOOL

When students walk to and from school, cars cruise by Campostella Elementary at 25 mph. Finally.

Before blinking caution lights were turned on last week, cars zipped by at 45 or 50 mph, which made Campostella Road's six lanes a treacherous trek, even with crossing guards.

``Look at how fast that car is going! Look, OK, it's slowing down!,'' assistant principal Carolyn Harper said, pointing to a white sports car. ``If that light wasn't on, it would've kept on going.''

Crossing guards, school-zone signs and an unlit 25-mph sign have been outside the school since September, but school and community members say none was effective until the blinking reminders became operational last week.

In fact, parents, teachers and neighbors were so concerned about the crossing that PTA members made daily calls to city officials, school administrators wrote letters and the Diggs Town public housing residents volunteered as additional traffic guards. They kept up the pace for two months.

All celebrated the amber-hued light, even though city officials said it would have been illuminated without their efforts. ``This should've been turned on before school started,'' grandparent Zachariah Ash said. ``Not two months later.''

Ash drove from his Virginia Beach home two to three times a week to walk his grandson to school safely.

The school is responsible for making sure its 690 students get home safely, and most of the children cross Campostella Road to walk home. Yet the school has no control over city traffic lights.

``We've been fighting for this since the beginning of the school year,'' Harper said. ``Teachers, parents, everyone has pitched in to make sure the kids are safe.''

Concerns at Campostella reflect those of other communities where residents have complained about the lack of traffic signs in their neighborhoods.

Three children were hit by cars this year in the Bowling Green public housing community. Residents blamed the accidents on the lack of speed limit and stop signs. A 16-year-old bicyclist was killed last month in Berkley, which prompted citizens to appeal to City Council for a traffic light.

Although there haven't been any accidents at Campostella, parents say they've seen cars screech to a halt near children.

City officials said construction delays on Campostella Road created electrical problems that pushed back the deadline for turning the lights on.

Now, 22 of Norfolk's 35 elementary schools have flashing caution lights. City and school officials are monitoring vehicle and and pedestrian traffic to see whether caution lights are needed elsewhere. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

IAN MARTIN/The Virginian-Pilot

Parents, school officials and neighbors say the 25 mph sign on

Campostella Road wasn't effective until the lights began working.

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