Operations and Safety Around Schools: Overview of Project Activities and Findings

The state of Texas, particularly 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 highspeeds. 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. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is currently focusing attention on these issues through its Precious Cargo Program. Precious Cargo allows TxDOT staff to review school site plans and make recommendations before they are built. Since the program's inception, more than 180 schools in 70 various school districts statewide have seen traffic safety improvements around their schools or future school sites. This report provides an overview of the project activities and findings. In the first year, researchers performed a state-of-the practice literature review; interviews and surveys with architects, school district personnel, and consulting engineers with considerable experience in school site planning and design; surveys of site review practices of TxDOT and municipal engineers; findings and observations from case studies of 14 school campuses; and a review of existing guidelines. In the second year, the research team conducted field studies at 20 school sites concentrating on operations and conflicts in parent pick-up and drop-off areas. Based on the findings, researchers developed school site planning and design guidelines for transportation-related elements such as site selection, general site requirements and design, bus operations, parent drop-off/pick-up zones, driveways, turn lanes, signing and marking, parking, and pedestrian and bicycle access.