Over 600 students will walk on a brand new trail to Frenchtown Elementary and Intermediate School on Tuesday, September 30.

In conjunction with Bike Walk Bus Week, school buses will drop off students at the trail near the King Ranch Golf Course at Main Street and Mullan Road, where they'll be joined by teachers, staff and firefighters as they walk to school together starting at 8 a.m.

Missoula Parks and Trails Program Assistant Christine Dascenzo said building the trail was in response to residents who were concerned that children were walking in the road on their way to school, creating a hazard.

"People in the community and from the school district saw that kids were walking in the middle of the street to get to school," Dascenzo said. "So, teachers and administrators and community members got together and talked to the county public works department to get the funds for a trail together. Through various sources the trail was built with about $300,000 in grant funds. It's an asphalt trail about a mile and a quarter long."

Dascenzo said the idea for a kids march seemed the perfect way to inaugurate the new trail.

"County Parks and trails talked with the Frenchtown school district and some of their trustees, and the march just seemed like a natural event to include both buses and walking and just to celebrate early enough on a Tuesday morning where the weather wouldn't be a factor, and just to get the kids on the trail," Dascenzo said.

Bike Walk Bus Week continues through Friday, sponsored by Missoula in Motion.

Missoula Parks and Trails Program Assistant Christine Dascenzo

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