Gazette photos by Steve Morris Andersen Elementary crossing guard Logan Stoehr, 11, stops traffic on Highway 95 on Thursday after school to allow his fellow classmates to safely cross the street. Bayport officials heard an update Monday on ways to improve the safety for students who have to walk across the busy highway.

BAYPORT - Vehicles zipping past at 35 mph with elementary school students a short distance away is a potentially lethal combination Bayport officials hope never mix.

The Bayport City Council this week heard a number of options to safeguard Anderson Elementary students and other pedestrians walking across Highway 95.

Bayport Engineer Barry Peters presented a preliminary feasibility study on four of the city's most likely options to make crossing Highway 95 easier: a bridge, a tunnel, a traffic signal and a pedestrian-activated flasher. Officials are looking at possibly placing one of them near Third Avenue and Highway 95, flanked by the school and the park.

By one estimate, around 20 students walk across the busy highway to get to school each day. The number is even higher during the school day, when many students use Perro Park, which sits across the highway from the school, for various activities, such as ice skating during winter.

The issue is nothing new for Bayport officials, who have been examining pedestrian safety in the area for years. Bayport Assistant City Administrator Sara Taylor said the most recent round of discussion about pedestrian safety is preliminary, and she isn't sure how the city would fund a project if the council decides to go ahead with one of the four options.

The council took no action Monday and instead directed Peters to research the availability of grants for a traffic signal and update members at their Nov. 10 meeting.

In the meantime, the council is divided over how much to spend and what option would be best; two of the options are estimated to cost well over $1 million.

For Councilman Torry Kraftson, the decision seems to be an easy one, saying it's hard to put a price tag on the safety of the community's students. Kraftson has three kids and appeared especially connected to the issue. He used Woodbury as an example of a city with well-used pedestrian tunnels.

"I don't think we should write this off because of the price tag," Kraftson said at Monday's meeting. "There are a lot of ways to get money for this."

The estimated construction cost of a pedestrian bridge - the most expensive of the four options - is estimated between $1.3 million and $1.7 million. A tunnel would cost about $1 million, a traffic signal around $300,000, while a pedestrian flasher is the cheapest, at about $60,000.

Councilwoman Sharon Ridgway remained opposed to the idea of the tunnel because she didn't see the "benefit for the costs."

If the council went with the proposed pedestrian bridge, it would be built around 25 feet high across the highway, which left Councilwoman Connie Carlson questioning the aesthetic impact of a bridge.

"It would just look ugly and take away from the quaint look of the town," she said.

Andersen Elementary principal Mark Drommerhausen said he would support any decision by the council. In the three years he has been principal, there has not been an accident involving one of his students, he said.

"(But) anytime you cross a highway, there is a potential for danger," he said.

Mary Dell'Angelo, a staff member at Anderson Elementary who sometimes helps students stop traffic, said when Andersen Corporation employees get off work, 20 cars can get backed up.

"It's a dangerous and I don't like it all," he said.