TRANSPORTATION CONCERNS NEAR SCHOOLS

The State of Texas, particularly in the large urban areas, has experienced considerable population growth in recent years. This growth has produced new schools in areas near highways originally designed for low volumes and relatively high speeds. Another trend is the higher proportion of children being transported to and from schools in private vehicles. These realities, and many of the other issues associated with traffic around schools, make it important to aggressively consider the design of roadways within and around schools to ensure the safest possible traffic environment. Equally important is the consideration of the location and design of the school site, preferably during the planning stages, in order to establish safe and efficient operations. Observations were conducted at 14 schools to identify transportation issues in need of research. Literature review, surveys, and reviews of existing guidelines also contributed to identifying transportation issues. Preliminary observations at the sample of Texas schools showed the following: at almost all sites, the average service time (i.e., the amount of time spent on-site in the main parent drop-off/pick-up zone) was significantly more variable for afternoon pick-up operations as opposed to the morning drop-off; there was a wide variety of design, operations, and traffic control/markings practices at the school sites studied; some of the schools used pro-active practices such as placement of traffic cones, use of gates and/or other barriers, and use of student and staff for on-site traffic control to improve the safety and flow of traffic within their campus; and schools that had separation of the basic traffic types appeared to have less safety conflicts than those where separation was not present.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • The symposium proceedings are available on CD-ROM.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Authors:
  • Wooldridge, M D
  • Cooner, S A
  • Fitzpatrick, K
• Conference:
  • 2nd Urban Street Symposium: Uptown, Downtown, or Small Town: Designing Urban Streets That Work
  • Location: Anaheim, California , United States
  • Date: 2003-7-28 to 2003-7-30
• Publication Date: 2003-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: CD-ROM
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 12p
• Monograph Title: 2ND URBAN STREET SYMPOSIUM: UPTOWN, DOWNTOWN, OR SMALL TOWN: DESIGNING URBAN STREETS THAT WORK, JULY 28-30, 2003, ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Field studies; Highway design; Literature reviews; Road markings; Schools; Surveys; Traffic control; Traffic safety
• Geographic Terms: Texas
• Subject Areas: Design; Education and Training; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; I21: Planning of Transport Infrastructure; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00989175
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Apr 8 2005 12:00AM