In Grantsville, children walk in grass along Willow Road, rather than on sidewalks, as they make their way home from Willow Elementary School. In Tooele, East Elementary students have trodden out a foot path in a grassy stretch along Seventh Street on their way to and from school. Other kids choose to walk in the street rather than on the sidewalk across the street. And many children who use the sidewalk across the street walk less than a block before they must turn onto 200 South, which has no sidewalks, and walk several blocks in the street as cars maneuver around them.

The two schools are emblematic of problems many kids across the Tooele Valley face in safely walking to school each day.

According to Mike Johnsen, superintendent of Tooele County schools, the school district is required each year to submit a "walking plan" to the Utah State Board of Education.

"All the principals come together to review their walking plans. They look at the best routes to get to the school, is their plan still viable and are there any issues," Johnsen said.

Johnsen said most schools have sidewalks on at least one side of the road.

However, schools like Wendover and Northlake elementary schools that don't have sidewalks near the schools must bus students -- even those that live close by. Johnsen said busing is critical with those schools because they are on busy highways.

But in Grantsville, Willow Elementary is on a remote street with a very wide roadway. Students there are permitted to walk to and from school, but officials at the school and the city are still concerned about safety issues.

Cleo Riggs, the principal at Willow Elementary, joined with Grantsville City officials to seek a grant that would pay for sidewalk installation along Willow Street from SR-138. However, Mayor Byron Anderson said the city was only able to get Community Development Block Grant funds for a sidewalk from SR-138 to Durfee Street. That sidewalk construction is slated to begin in the fall.

"One of the problems with CDBG money is you have to have a certain income level," said Anderson. "It is meant to upgrade depressed areas. A survey of income levels there qualified the street for money. But there is nothing up to the school to qualify for CDBG money."

Anderson said an attempt to get money for a trail to the school also failed.

"The street is inside a municipality, so the state does not feel responsible for that," he said.

"It is terribly expensive to put down pavement of any kind," Anderson said, noting that 98 percent of Willow Elementary children ride with their parents to and from school. "It isn't something we've forgotten, it is something we can't get. We don't want an accident there."

At East Elementary, the parent-teacher association has been seeking to put a sidewalk on Seventh Street. They've gotten materials and labor donated and may not have to pay for the sidewalk.

But the property owner, Lars Pedersen, said he is concerned that putting in a sidewalk may make that area more dangerous for children. He said the access road meets the street there at a steep incline.

"My wife has to drive out every morning, and a sidewalk would bring more children walking past on that side. That could be setting kids up for an accident," Pedersen said.

A group of concerned East parents brought the matter before the Tooele City Council last week. The council promised to negotiate with Pedersen on the sidewalk, and if those negotiations broke down, to pursue obtaining the land by eminent domain proceedings.

Tooele Mayor Patrick Dunlavy said a church has been asked to install sidewalk in front of their property on 1000 North near Middle Canyon Elementary.

"They are looking at their budget right now," he said. "We believe they will be able to do something there."

Johnsen said even with sidewalks on one side of the street near schools, children often choose to walk in the street, as with the situation at East Elementary.

"Sometimes students will walk in the road anyway rather than cross the road two times. And if snow isn't shoveled, they have a tendency to walk in the road," Johnsen said. "Besides discussing the walking plan with students, there isn't much else we can do about that."