Traffic congestion in the neighborhoods near Franklin High School and Toby Johnson Middle School has become a serious concern for students who walk in the area as well as residents who live there. For that reason, new pick-up and drop-off zones are being recommended to alleviate traffic.
Last December, a 12-year-old boy was hit by a car while riding a bicycle through a crosswalk at the intersection of Franklin High Road and Hewitt Way. The school board discussed the issue in January.
Here's more information about the new drop-off zones, courtesy of the El Grove Police Department, in partnership with the school district and Consumnes Community Services District.
Our goal is to reduce congestion and at the same time provide a safe route for all children walking, riding or driving to school. To address the concerns of the community we serve, we are offering alternatives for you to safely drop off and pick up your children, while at the same time alleviating some of the traffic in the neighborhoods in and around Franklin High School and Toby Johnson Middle School.
The Elk Grove Police Department has partnered with the Elk Grove Unified School District and Cosumnes Community Services District to alleviate the traffic congestion. To alleviate congestion in the residential neighborhoods we recommend that parents currently using the Sorrentino and Mossaic neighborhoods to drop off children consider using the parking lots at Bartholomew Park near Whitelock Parkway and Franklin High Road or the parking lot at Morse Park when dropping off and/or picking up their children.
Both of these offsite parking areas have larger roadways that are designed to effectively handle greater traffic flow than the surrounding residential streets. Bartholomew Park, located east of Franklin High School, can accommodate considerable vehicle traffic. Besides reducing traffic on residential streets, children would not have to cross Whitelock Parkway, allowing a safe passage to and from school.
New signs will be installed in the surrounding neighborhoods indicating “no stopping” during school drop off or pick up hours. The designated hours for drop offs will be 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. The designated hours for pickups will be 2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. During the 30-day transition period, which begins Feb. 4, officers from the Elk Grove Police Department Traffic Unit, Problem Oriented Policing Unit, and representatives from the Elk Grove Unified School District will be informing parents about these changes and the information will be made available through School Loop. After the transition period ends, officers will be actively conducting enforcement in the designated area. Various other mitigating measures are being analyzed and will be implemented as deemed viable including additional drop off of and pickup alternatives as well as intersection and light modifications. As future measures are implemented additional communication will be forth coming.
As another post pointed out, this is a symptom of a problem that the District wont admit to. No school bus service to these schools. Additionally the E-Tran service is lackluster at best and subject to constant flux as "budget concerns" become the continual excuse to provide less and less service to taxpayers in Elk Grove. Perhaps parents of Franklin/Johnson Students need to look into a legal challenge to the school district's bus policy as a negligent act in light of student safety concerns and recent injuries to students. That might force them to look at the problem and not simply change the geography of the problem. All they have accomplished now is they get to say a kid was hit by a car at a park instead of at their school cross walk. EGUSD is a disgrace in terms of truly handling issues.
There is a little bit of responsibility to go around. Ever watch how those kids act when they get out of school? I wasn't raised to act that way. Ever watched drivers that drive stupid? Maybe we need a few cops out there to give tickets to those who do U turns in the middle of the street! There is nothing wrong with kids walking and riding bikes to school. If there was more of that going on, there wouldn't be a traffic issue.