Z134-136(WE)292 83 140 439

II. TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT PLAN

The purpose of the Traffic Management Plan (TMP) is to have established procedures for trafficflow and circulation around the elementary school related to student drop-off and pick-upoperations. Use of a TMP helps improve traffic/student safety and helps maximize the efficiencyof drop-off and pick-up operations, reducing delays during those time periods. The analysissummarized in this report identifies critical elements of the TMP such as available queuing spacethat is both on and off site, circulation patterns for the school facilities, and the projected tripgeneration (and estimated queuing) during the morning and afternoon peaks. Exhibit 1 inAppendix A is a graphical representation of the proposed TMP.

2.1 Operational Characteristics

Based on information from Richardson ISD, the elementary school currently has:LI maximum of 752 studentsLI 70 staff membersLI 50% students that walk to/from the schoolWith the proposed addition, the elementary school will have:LI maximum of 810 studentsLI 76 staff membersLI 50% students that walk to/from the school

It should be noted that many of the students considered to be “walkers” are dropped off and/orpicked up by a parent, who parks on an adjacent street and walks the student to and from school.Trips associated with these students are noted below in the trip generation totals (see Section 2.3below).

2.1.1 School Hours

The normal daily schedule for the school is:LI All grades start at 8:00 AMLI Day Care Students are released at 2:50 PMLI Grades K through 6 are released at 3:00 PM

Although the operating times of the school are established, not all students enter/exit the site atthe same time. Other activities at the school (such as breakfast program, after school tutoring,student clubs, etc.) may cause students to arrive/leave at times outside the normal class times.Occasional special events at the school may generate traffic peaks that outside of the normaldrop-off and pick-up times. While these special events were not reviewed as part of the TMP,measures or recommendations discussed may be applicable.

2.1.2 Bus Service and Daycare

There is only one school bus that serves White Rock Elementary on a daily basis, which is forstudents with disabilities. There is another bus that picks up several students being bused to othercampuses. Both of these buses queue along the side lot on the southeast side of the school. There

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29283 140439Zi 34-1 36(WE)

are a limited number of buses that pick up students for the REACH program on Tuesdays. In themorning, the vehicles related to daycare drop off students using the front loop in front of theschool. In the afternoon, daycare vehicles queue in the staff lot on the south corner of the site.Students attending daycare are released at 2:50 PM to load onto daycare buses/vans. A maximumof six daycare related vehicles were observed.

2.2 Existing Operations and Circulation

In front of the school (southwest side) is the front loop driveway, which is two-lanes wide andoperates with one-way (counterclockwise) traffic flow. There is no designated parking in thefront loop. Cones are placed at the exit of the loop driveway to encourage drivers to make aright-turn only when exiting the loop during both the morning and afternoon, but there is noformal restriction on left-turns at the exit.

On the south corner of the site is a staff/visitor parking lot (28 spaces total) with driveways onboth Chiswell Road and Bellewood Drive. Along the southeast side of the school and around inback of the school is staff parking (46 spaces total), which is accessed via two driveways onBellewood Drive. Student drop-off and pick-up activity in these staff/visitor parking lots was aminimal amount of the overall traffic pattern. Halff observed both morning drop-off andafternoon pick-up operations at White Rock Elementary School on Wednesday, November 13,2013 with some minor follow-up observations on November 18, 2013. A summary of thoseobservations is given below.

2.2.1 Morning Drop-OffOperations

The school doors at the main front entry are opened at 7:30 AM to allow students into thebuilding. There is minimal activity at the front loop for the first five minutes after 7:30 AM withonly a few parents pulling through the loop to drop off students. At that time there is no staff toassist with drop-off operations.

The pace of drop-off activity begins to increase by 7:40 AM. Parents enter the front loop in frontof the school from Chiswell Road by making either a right-turn or left-turn into the driveway.School staff (two staff members), student safety patrol (usually six students), and volunteer dads(between two and four total) assist with drop-off operations at the school. This includes stoppingvehicles so students/parents can cross the front loop driveway, waving cars forward to maximizethe queuing space in the driveway, assisting students exiting vehicles, and directing traffic in thefront loop.

By 7:45 AM the queuing space in the front loop is fully utilized and the vehicle queue extendsonto Chiswell Road with one to two vehicles queuing on Chiswell Road between the front loopdriveway and Bellewood Drive. As a result of the queue on Chiswell Road, vehicles turning rightfrom Bellewood Drive onto Chiswell Road also begin to queue up. School staff, safety patrolmembers, and the volunteer dads continue to assist with drop-off operations. There was anadditional staff member that works the crosswalk at the intersection of Bellewood Drive andChiswell Road.

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Z134-136(WE) 292 83 140439At 7:50 AM there is a vehicle queue on Bellewood Drive between seven (7) and ten (10)vehicles in length. The queue on Chiswell Road extends from the front loop driveway toBellewood Drive (approximately two vehicles) with an additional four (4) vehicles south of theintersection at Bellewood Drive. This appeared to be the maximum queue for morning drop-offoperations. Safety patrol students are dismissed to go to class at 7:55 AM, but staff and volunteerdads continue to assist with directing traffic in the ioop and unloading cars. By 8:00 AM thefront loop drive is still busy with the last surge of parents dropping off students, but the queue isfully contained within the loop drive and within a couple of minutes of the bell ringing (at 8:00AM) the vehicle queue had dissipated.

There are a significant number of parents that park their vehicles along the streets adjacent to theschool and walk students to the building. In the morning this occurs on both Chiswell Road(between Clearhurst Drive and Bellewood Drive) and Bellewood Drive. There is some minorparking activity on Forestridge Drive. This parking activity did not significantly interfere withtraffic flows on the roadways surrounding the school. The totals for parents parking and walkingstudents to school are shown in Table 1 of section 2.3.

2.2.2 Afternoon Pick-Up Operations

In the afternoon, students are released in one of three ways. Students that walk (or are picked upby parents who park and walk to school) are released from the back of the school at 3:00 PM.Students that attend daycare after school are released at 2:50 PM to load into daycare buses/vansqueued in the staff/visitor lot. The last method is via the pick-up loop in front of the school.Students who are picked up at the front loop are staged in the gymnasium and exit the building astheir names are called. Staff communicates via two-way radios, with one staff member standingin the area between the front loop entrance and the driveway for the staff7visitor lot. Theyidentify the parent/student and call the name to those in the gymnasium. Students are assistingwith loading into the vehicles by both staff and student safety patrol members.

For front pick-up ioop operations, parents begin arriving at the school before 2:30 PM topark/queue in the front loop driveway. Several of the parents were observed to exit the vehicle topick-up their student early from school and then leave. Parents entered the front loop by makingeither a right or left-turn, but once the loop was full (queue reached Chiswell Road), left turnactivity into the driveway ceased.

By 2:45 PM the front loop was full with 14 vehicles queued on-site and the queue is beginning toextend to the south of the front loop driveway on Chiswell Road. No vehicle queue was observedon Bellewood Drive. The queue on Chiswell Road continued to build until 3:00 PM and thedismissal bell rang. The observed maximum queue was 50 vehicles on Chiswell Road, plus the14 vehicles in the loop drive for a total of 64 vehicles. Once students began being released forpick up at the front loop, the vehicle queue on Chiswell Road began to decrease rapidly. By 3:05PM, the queue on Chiswell Road was reduced to approximately 30 vehicles and was steadilymoving north toward the entrance of the pick-up loop. By 3:10 PM, the queue on Chiswell Roadwas eliminated and the queue within the front loop was fully dissipated within a couple moreminutes.

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ZI 34-1 36(WE) 292 83 140 439As with the AM drop-off peak, there are a significant number of parents that park their vehiclesalong the streets adjacent to the school and walk to the building to wait and pick up students. Inthe afternoon, parking occurs on both Chiswell Road (between Spring Branch Drive andBellewood Drive) and Bellewood Drive. There is also parking activity on Forestridge Drive,Wildhaven Drive and Clearhurst Drive. The parking activity did not significantly interfere withtraffic flows on any of the roadways surrounding the school. The totals for parents parking andpicking up students from school are shown in Table 1 of section 2.3.

2.3 Trip Generation and Observed Queues

As part of the observations, Halff conducted traffic counts during the AM peak (7:00 to 8:15AM) and school PM peak (2:15 to 3:30 PM). The counts were conducted at the followinglocations:

LI Entry of front loop driveway at Chiswell RoadLI Exit of front loop driveway at Chiswell RoadLI Staff/visitor lot at Chiswell RoadLI Staff/visitor lot at Bellewood DriveLI Staff lot at Bellewood Drive (east driveway)LI Staff lot at Bellewood Drive (west driveway)

Halff conducted the traffic counts and observations in order to estimate the number of vehicletrips generated by the school at its current enrollment, approximately 752 students. A summaryof the observed trip generation is presented in Table 1 below.

Table 1 — Site Generated Trips (Observed)Land UseAM-Peak Hour School PM-Peak HourIn Out Total In Out TotalFront Pick-up/Drop-off Loop 202 202 40497 97 194On-Street Pick-up/Drop-off 94 94 188 128 114 242Staff Parking Areas 74 24 98 22 16 38Total Trips 370 320 690 247 227 474

The trips shown are comprised of the trips turning into and out of the school driveways and thevehicles observed (both parking and stopping) dropping off or picking up students on streetsadjacent to the school during the AM and PM peak hours of the school (the school hours ofoperation are 8:00 AM to 3:00 PM).

From the peak hour observations and traffic counts, Haiff also identified the time when themaximum number of vehicles were “queued” on or around the school (in this case, “queued”vehicles include vehicles queued on northbound Chiswell Road, westbound Bellewood Drive,and vehicles queued in the front loop driveway of the school).

As is common at school campuses, the maximum queue was observed in the PM peak hour, justafter students were released at 3:00 pm. The number of passenger cars waiting on or around the

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29283 140439school campus to pick up students at this time was approximately 64 vehicles. Only one mediumsize school bus was queued on-site in the southeast staff lot.

Haiff also identified the parking demand for the school by counting the parked cars on the siteafter the morning and afternoon peak periods. The maximum observed parking demand for theschool was 58 vehicles which occurred after the morning peak period, which is 16 less than thecurrent parking supply.

2.4 Proposed Campus Improvements

As mentioned, the RISD is planning to add 6 new classrooms to White Rock Elementary Schoolcampus, which will be located on the northwest wing of the school. The district will also beexpanding the school’s cafeteria and gym. The campus expansion will require the staff parkinglot, located on the back side/interior parking area to be reconfigured. This will add 14 moreparking spaces to the campus, for a total of 78 marked parking spaces on the site. As part of thereconfiguration, the east driveway serving the staff lot will be moved further east to straightenthe driveway alignment. No other improvements to the campus are proposed as part of thisproject. With the proposed site improvements, Halff is recommending the addition of a secondpick-up loop along the southeast side of school. For this pick-up ioop, vehicles will enter the eaststaff lot drive (on Bellewood Drive), route (and queue) through the interior of the staff parkinglot and then loop back around the southeast side of the school building where loading of studentsinto vehicles will occur. This proposed loop will have stacking space to accommodateapproximately 38 passenger vehicles. This represents an increase in on-site stacking space of 830feet.

Staff AssistanceFor elementary schools, assistance from staff is necessary to optimize traffic flow, especiallyduring the afternoon pick-up when vehicles waiting to pick up students may queue onto theadjacent City streets. Presented below are steps that should be taken by school staff to facilitatesafe and efficient student loading operations in the afternoon peak period. Although both themorning and afternoon operations were observed, the main focus of the TMP is on the afternoonoperations due to the presence of larger queues for longer periods of time. Many of the conceptsdeveloped for the afternoon pick-up operations can be applied to morning drop-off operations aswell. Additionally, many of the items listed below are already being implemented and shouldcontinue to be used.

2.6.1 Morning Drop-Off

D Parents and day care vans to drop off in the front loop drive in the morning.LI Drop off can occur in the lane nearest the school building; the adjacent lane (nearest ChiswellRoad) should be kept open for traffic flow around stopped vehicles.LI Parents will be allowed to turn left into front ioop drive, but will be encouraged to move to thenorth end (past the crosswalk at the main entry) for drop-off. This will help prevent the drivewayentrance from being blocked. This would require removal of the existing left-turn restrictionduring the AM Peak.

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Z134-136(WE) 292 83 140 439

Li 6 to 8 manned unloading stations should be provided and should be identified with trafficcones, which will better indicate to parents where the unloading should occur.Li Two staff members should be present to support safety patrol students (one student perstation). Volunteer parents can assist operations, but should be used as a supplement to regularstaff and safety patrol. This will ensure normal operations on days when volunteer parents arenot available.Li One staff member/safety patrol student should be stationed at main entry crosswalk. Theindividual working should be encouraged to not stop vehicles until the unloading queue hasreached the crosswalk. This will help keep traffic flow in the loop from being stoppedunnecessarily.Li Remove the second crosswalk to the north in the front loop drive and direct all pedestriantraffic to main crosswalk.Li Another staff member should be at crosswalk at Bellewood Drive and Chiswell Road.Li Traffic cones encouraging traffic to make right turn when exiting loop drive should continue tobe placed at exit to Chiswell Road.Li In addition to the front ioop, parents will also be allowed to drop-off students along southeastside of school, using the staff lot driveways on Bellewood Drive.Li Four manned unloading stations identified with traffic cones should be provided.Li One staffmember should be present to support safety patrol students (one student per station).Li School staff and/or student safety patrol should actively assist students exiting their vehicle.Li At least one staff member should be outside by 7:20 AM to setup Staff members and safetypatrol should be present and working to unload vehicles by not later than 7:35 AM.Li School staff and/or student safety patrol should actively assist students exiting their vehicle.Li Students should exit vehicle from the passenger side only and parents should remain invehicle.Li Parents should be instructed to pull forward to the furthest open unloading station, and shouldonly unload their student at a designated unloading station.Li Parents should be instructed to not drop off their student in the street (in the travel lanes).Students should be dropped off in the front loop or southeast loop drives, or parents should parkon Chiswell Road or Bellewood Drive and allow their student to exit the vehicle on the curb side.

2.6.2 Afternoon Pick Up

Li Bus for disabled students should queue at end of westmost staff lot driveway. It isrecommended that students be loaded onto bus at 2:50 PM to allow bus to depart before 3:00release of remaining students.Li Daycare buses/vans should be staged in south staff/visitor lot. Daycare drivers should beencouraged to pull up to driveway on Chiswell Road to maximize queuing space.Li Parents will be allowed to pick up students using both the front loop drive and the southeastloop drive. Staff should decide how to divide students to balance demand between front andsoutheast loops.Li Pick up in the front loop can occur in the lane nearest the school building; the adjacent lane(nearest Chiswell Road) should be kept open for traffic flow.

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Z134-136(WE) 292 83 140 43 9LI Left-turns into front loop driveway will be restricted during the afternoon peak. Replaceexisting “No Left Turn” sign with MUTCD standard 24” x 24” sign and add supplementalplaque with 2:00 to 3:30 PM restriction on school days.LI 6 to 8 manned loading stations should be provided at front loop. These should be identifiedwith traffic cones.LI A minimum of two staff members should be present to support safety patrol students (onestudent per station).LI One staff member/student safety patrol member should be stationed at crosswalk at main entry,and one staff should be located at crosswalk at Bellewood Drive and Chiswell Road.LI Traffic cones directing traffic to make right turn when exiting loop drive should be placed atexit to Chiswell Road.LI Along with the front pick-up loop, parents will be allowed to pick up students along southeastside of school.LI Four manned loading stations identified with traffic cones should be provided.LI One staff member should be present to support safety patrol students (one student per station)loading vehicles.LI Two staff members should be located in advance of car lines (one for front ioop and one forsoutheast loop) to radio for students to be sent out to car line.LI It is recommended that a hanging tag system with numbers be used. This will improveoperation when substitute staff (that may not recognize parent’s vehicles) is working thecar lines.LI School staff and/or student safety patrol should actively assist students loading into theirvehicle.LI Students should enter vehicle from the passenger side only and parents should remain invehicle.LI Parents should be instructed to pull forward to the furthest open loading station and shouldonly load their student at a designated loading station.LI Parents should be instructed to not pick up their student in the street (in the travel lanes).Students should be picked up at the front loop or southeast loop drives, or parents should parkwhere permitted on roadways adjacent to the school site and walk to the school to pick upstudent.

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