Shelter at Last!

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After a long wait, students at Mary Woodward Elementary finally parked their bikes under new covered parking last month.  The two structures were built over the school’s existing bike racks and represent an incredible community effort.

The project was modeled after the Portland Public Schools Bike Shelter Development Guide, a “support booklet for parent volunteer groups, school staff and students interested in building bike shelters on school sites.”  A group of Mary Woodward parents, working with former Tigard Safe Routes to School Coordinator Anna Dragovich, decided the concept could be applied to Mary Woodward, and the project moved forward.

The process officially began in February 2017 with a proposal to the City of Tigard’s social services grant program.  Through the program the Mary Woodward Parent Support Organization was granted $1,400, as well as an in-kind grant in the amount of $932 for permit fee waivers.  The Mary Woodward PSO later matched the city’s funds with a $1,400 budget line-item. 

But a project of this size couldn’t be completed on such a limited budget, and that’s where the community came in.  The entire project cost over $27,000 and was made possible through some incredibly generous community donations of time, materials and expertise.

The main objective of the bike shelters is to protect students’ bikes from the sun and rain, but the bike shelters do more than just that.  They send a message to Mary Woodward families and the community that active transportation is encouraged and supported at Mary Woodward.  They also remove a potential barrier for students who might bike to school if they knew their bikes were protected from the elements.  And in the grander scheme, they support a broader city-wide initiative to create a community where active transportation is a way of life.

Thank you to the many sponsors and volunteers that made this project possible: City of Tigard, Conrad Lumber, Crow Engineering, Ferrari Enterprises, Huttig Building Products, The Johnson Family, The Kurth Family, Mary Woodward PSO, McKenna Metal LLC, Northwest College of Construction, Orchard Hardware, Oregon Bolt, Perlo Construction, Reliable Fence and Construction, Riverside Manufacturing, The Stuhldryer Family and TT&L Sheet Metal.

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