ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — A St. Johns County community demanding a safer way to school for their kids has the attention of a state lawmaker, who wants to make sure their kids don’t have to cross busy roads to get to class.

State Representative Kim Kendall filed House Bill 85 to try to get a bus for Liberty Pines Academy students living in St. Johns Forest.

“The only accessible route to the school from my front door is a 45-minute walk along a busy road that is yards away from the 9B freeway on-ramp,” said Kimberly Reach, who’s daughter attends Liberty Pines Academy.

Reach spoke before a delegation of state lawmakers with one request.

The same request she’s had since her daughter was in kindergarten at Liberty Pines Academy.

“Bus transportation is a critical need to get children to school safely,” Reach said.

This isn’t the first time Representative Kim Kendall has heard about the lack of buses.

In fact, her friend, who lives in the neighborhood, already called her about the situation.

“A car almost hit her daughter,” Kendall said. “To get that call and her little 8-year-old girl on the bike, trying to bike to the school literally had to wait 20 minutes for the police and tow trucks to move the car out of her way.”

State law only requires school districts to provide a bus to homes two miles or more from a school.

That means half of St. Johns Forest gets one, while half is too close.

There are exceptions for hazardous road conditions, but this sidewalk doesn’t meet those requirements.

Kendall thinks it should, so she filed a bill to add paths near onramps to freeways and interstates, like Highway 9B, to the list of hazardous exemptions.

“We ran the numbers, and if we had a bus start from ground zero with a bus driver, it was running about $14,000 per year,” Kendall said. “We asked the county, school district to cover that charge. There were some legal issues, so that’s why we’re going this route.”

Just in the past two years, First Coast News has reported on cars crashing into the pedestrian bridge, including a deadly crash just last February.

No students were hit in any of those crashes, and Kendall wants to get them a bus to keep it that way.

“I can’t imagine being a parent myself having to send my kids out on a sidewalk where it’s a very unsafe situation,” Kendall said.

The hazardous conditions exemption only applies to elementary schools.

We’ve heard from parents, near Baldwin Middle-High School for example, with concerns about their older students having to cross highways to get home without a bus.

Kendall says they’ll start with elementary schools and gauge how lawmakers feel about including other ages if this bill makes it to a committee.