Improvements at Grandview

It's nice to see some improvements, or attempts at improving the dangerous traffic situation at Grandview. Nice job to the responsible parties!

Traffic again to the forefront in Morrisville

This really isn't anything new at all. During the recent joint council/school board meeting(you know the one where the SB came off as looking really childish), this was all discussed, or was attempted to be discussed. Why it is appearing in the paper weeks after the meeting is beyond us.

From the BCCT:

Morrisville seeks answers to school traffic problems

By: MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times
The traffic situation has become so snarled that one parent set up a Facebook site to collect complaints.

Parents have complained for more than a year.

And now, the borough and the Morrisville School Board are closer to finding fixes for school traffic safety concerns.

"This issue encompasses something we can mutually solve," borough council President Nancy Sherlock said recently.

Making the roads more secure for the district's roughly 1,000 students has been an ongoing topic of discussion, but new problems came to the forefront after M.R. Reiter Elementary School closed after a December 2008 furnace explosion.

Now Reiter students in grades four and five attend classes at Morrisville Middle/High School and the younger children all attend Grandview, increasing both vehicular and pedestrian traffic during school start and dismissal times.

Outside Grandview, the one-way street can get chaotic as parents and children in pre-kindergarten through third grade vie for space with vehicles.

The situation became so frustrating that parent Wanda Kartal started a "Petition for Safety" Facebook group last year to call attention to the problem of "near misses" she said she saw frequently from her home near the elementary school. The group has 77 members.

One member says she can't get out of her driveway sometimes and that traffic hardly moves down Melvin Avenue near the school. Another says, "We have a child of our very own at Grandview and I also pick up a friend's child who attends the IntermediateMiddleSenior High School. I can confirm that since the reconfiguration of grades after the MR Reiter explosion, (starting last spring), the traffic and safety issues have dramatically worsened."

Grades four and five enter and exit by the back door of the high school, near the administrative offices, but many children and adults still have to cross busy Palmer Avenue in front of the building, where cars clog the road every morning and afternoon.

Existing safety measures haven't been enough to alleviate traffic congestion and careless driving, say some parents.

Grandview parent Christine Phillips sees cars driving in the correct direction on the one-way road outside the elementary school, but many are still going too fast, she said Wednesday.

"People who aren't stopping to pick up kids aren't following 15 mile per hour rules. Sometimes, I come out of the school with my kids and see cars zipping up the street," she said.

The board would like to see the following additional solutions put in place, said board member Marlys Mihok:

n Flashing yellow lights to indicate a school zone in front of Morrisville High School.

n Reflective lines or flashing lights to send people in the correct direction out of Grandview Elementary School.

n More crossing guards at both schools.

Other options may include no parking on one side of the Melvin Avenue and Grandview Avenue intersection, to give the Grandview Elementary crossing guard better visibility, said Sherlock.

Paul DeAngelo, the school district's business administrator, is researching options for safety solutions, including cost estimates for the flashing school zone sign and options such as using a cheaper solar-powered sign.

"We'd work with the borough to make sure they're OK with whatever we pursue," he said.

Help for the traffic situation

No one can dismiss the fact that there is a traffic issue. We posted a blog entry earlier about this but deleted it shortly after. We stated in the blog entry that we had some ideas for the traffic situation but were withholding the info till after the election.(for fear of the SOT claiming credit). The person who commented and ourselves here realized that this was wrong and if we had any ideas we should share them. We apologize to the reader who may have took offense to the post being deleted.

So as requested here are the ideas we have for the traffic situation.

1. Create a dedicated teacher/staff lot at the high school. The rear of the school may be best. This would free up space in front of the school for drop off/pick up.

2. Further stagger start times for students to reduce the amount of traffic at the schools.

3. Additional crossing guards are needed at key areas.

There is a great site on the web that is worth taking a look at also.
Here is the link: http://www.popcenter.org/problems/school_traffic/1

We hope this is a beginning stage to solving the traffic problems at the schools. Does anyone else have any ideas?

Traffic near school worries parents

From the BCCT:

Traffic near schools worries parents

By: MANASEE WAGH
Bucks County Courier Times
Teachers and students say they're shifting fairly smoothly into a new grade arrangement.
But all is not rosy at Morrisville schools, say some parents.
Since the district switched from three schools to two this year, several moms and dads at a recent school board meeting said they're concerned that traffic congestion between the schools could harm students who walk to school.
Wanda Kartal, who has a fifth-grader in the district and lives at the intersection of Grandview Avenue and West Palmer Street, said she sees "nonstop near-misses" every day.
"There's heavy traffic, and there's no crossing guard at that intersection. All those cars that were split up among three schools are now in one small area. It's dangerous for kids who have to walk," she said.
About 330 students in grades pre-K through 3 attend Grandview Elementary School on Grandview Avenue. Little more than one block away, 554 students attend grades four through 12 in a single building.
The district's third school, M.R. Reiter Elementary, is several blocks away but has been closed since December, when the furnace exploded and the building's already aged condition worsened.
The influx of cars causes Kartal to cringe as she sees younger children trying to stay out of the way of traffic every morning and afternoon, she said. She has started a "Petition for Safety" on Facebook and urged the district to apply to the federal program "Safe Routes to School," which helps communities implement safety measures for children walking to school. Kartal plans to give a packet of information about the program to the borough as well.

Patricia Manning-Doan and her son John Manning, a district parent, want the board to work on getting better safety and speed limit signs and more crossing guards close to schools.
One guard helps kids navigate the street in front of Grandview, and a safety officer helps children in grades four and five cross West Palmer Street in front of the high school. Other guards are stationed on school routes several blocks away.
Board President William Hellmann said the board would look into the problem, and suggested a few options to consider.
"We've got to sit down and speak to borough officials. Or why don't we stagger class start times for different grades at Grandview? Or we could make a driveway going all around the school (to relieve congestion in the front), but we'd need money for that."
He said parents had the same complaints about traffic when Reiter was open.
Nevertheless, families want to see a change as soon as possible.
"Going in and out of Grandview - you're taking your life in your hands," said Manning-Doan.September 25, 2009 2:20 AM-->