Because of construction on a new science building and lingering safety concerns for pedestrians on campus, AMSA built a new traffic loop and changed the arrival and dismissal traffic patterns at the start of the school year.
The original road into the campus was closed and traffic between the school’s three buildings was shut off. A new road was built connecting the parking lots behind the White Building and Upper School, making a loop from the driveway on Forest Street next to the White Building to the driveway on Forest Street next to Fore Kicks. The interior campus is now a traffic-free (except for limited staff parking) zone for students.
“I cannot think of anything we could have done without the new loop road in the back,” AMSA Principal Mike Nawrocki said. “I was always concerned with our old traffic pattern. It had really tight corners. We had a lot of students on foot going through incoming traffic.”
With the new system, students are out of traffic when walking between buildings. There are no cars traveling in the campus interior because they go through the loop road instead.
Parents, students, and buses now enter through the entrance on 165 Forest St., instead of the entrance near Fore Kicks. Teachers, however, continue to use the Fore Kicks entrance because they have adopted the former student parking lot in the front of the school.
Mr. Nawrocki said that because all cars are now filtered through a single driveway and loop that teachers expressed worry over the summer about being stuck in street traffic, with the potential for being tardy.
The senior parking lot then became the teachers’ lot, with teachers allowed to enter campus through the original entrance near Fore Kicks. Students then adopted the former teachers’ lot behind the White Building.
“What we have right now is going to be the traffic pattern for the foreseeable future,” Mr. Nawrocki said. “Things may change down the road. If we build a new space for parking lots, somethings might be tweaked. Overall, we are planning on having the one-way traffic pattern that we have right now.”
All traffic exits through the driveway near Fore Kicks.
After initial issues that delayed both the intake and dismissal processes, traffic has settled down without any major problems.
Cost for the new loop is estimated at $750,000, accounting for the new road and a subsequent retaining wall, funded by AMSA’s tax exempt bond and AMSA cash reserves.
