School Traffic Workshop: Dealing with Texas-Sized Problems around Schools (5-5470-01-1)

This report summarizes the series of "Traffic around Schools" workshops conducted throughout the state of Texas to familiarize TxDOT employees and partner agencies with two key products from previous research projects (0-4286 and 0-5470) and other tools and guidance that are available for dealing with problems around schools. The research team held half-day workshops in Austin, El Paso, Houston, Pharr, San Antonio, and Dallas that were attended by over 150 participants representing 36 agencies. The workshops were well received and helped to highlight and emphasize the important of multi-agency/multi-disciplinary cooperation in the planning, design, and operation of school sites in order to provide safe and efficient transportation access. One of the focus areas of the project and associated workshops was how agencies can effectively deal with the use of reduced speed school zones around schools. Researchers solicited and synthesized feedback from workshop participants in order to be able to update existing guidance. The research team developed three primary recommendations following the completion of this implementation project:

• Extend workshop series to other areas and/or to audiences more focused on ISD personnel.
• Pursue ongoing workshop support through the TxDOT Human Resources Division training section.
• Pursue non-TxDOT sponsorship opportunities (e.g., Texas Education Agency Regional Service Centers).
• Expand workshop content to a full day and increase interactivity by adding more group exercises, case studies, and the use of other interactive media such as video.
• Pursue additional school-related research projects on speed issues around schools.
• Speed compliance with beacons and without and speed/delay in school zones with no reduced speed.