Road construction tests parents at local school: Gridlock occurring at student dropoff, pickup times

ABC-Stewart School students and their families are beginning the school year with a challenge — navigating how to safely get in and out of the private Montessori school parking lot.

Construction workers hired by the Indiana Department of Transportation have blocked off one entrance to the school property while repaving west State Road 46.

On Wednesday, the private school’s small back parking lot was gridlock, with parents in vehicles waiting to pick up their children and then attempting to leave the school from a single entrance/exit that crews have left open for school access.

A Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Department deputy stopped to help direct traffic for Wednesday afternoon’s dismissal. The deputy then assisted school officials in designing a new traffic and parking pattern designed to move vehicles in and out of the school safely, school director Mike Gorday said.

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But on Thursday morning, even with directional traffic cones provided by paving contractor Milestone to move cars through the school lot, and a Milestone vehicle with a yellow warning light slowing traffic where parents were attempting to turn left from State Road 46 into the school, some near-collisions occurred.

As cars lined up to enter the student drop-off area behind the school on a rainy Thursday morning, a semi locked its brakes behind a minivan attempting to turn left off State Road 46 into the school, narrowly avoiding a rear-end collision.

Traffic was stopping abruptly at times when eastbound traffic going to the school made a hard right turn into the school entryway, or when school-bound traffic waits to turn left into the same entryway.

Things get even more congested when drivers are trying to enter and leave the school simultaneously, while navigating into fast-moving traffic on the two-lane highway. And there are the road construction workers and equipment to watch out for, too, as that equipment is moving along the highway throughout the day.

ABC-Stewart does not use buses for transportation. Each of the 190 students — some from the same family — arrive and depart by family car each day, Gorday said. In addition to those vehicles, the school has about 35 staff members who also drive each day. Staff are parking near the blocked entrance on the far west side of the property to give more room for parents to park.

There’s no quick solution to the logjam in sight.

School officials have been told the current road configuration, with a concrete barrier blocking off the lane where the normal entry is located, will continue for at least three weeks, or longer with weather delays.

Three teachers with bright umbrellas were directing traffic at the back of the parking lot Thursday morning, but had to head back inside the school when their classes started at about 8 a.m. Preschool teachers then took over for arrivals beginning at 8:20 a.m., and held umbrellas as small children entered at the back of the building.

The school has many international families who are new to the United States and to Columbus, Becker said, and some of them are finding it hard to figure out why this is happening as their children start a new school, school administrator Linda Becker said.

However, Gorday and Becker praised the parents and students for their attitude in approaching the challenging conditions, and their friendly waves and greetings as drivers were directed through the cones to drop-off areas.

“This should have been done during summer break,” said parent Jean Noel Bahar of Columbus, who was dropping off children at the school Thursday morning. However, he was smiling as he made the comment.

INDOT spokesman Harry Maginity said the project supervisor obtained permission from school officials to close off the entry way for the milling process, which is moving a foot and a half of asphalt out of the roadway in preparation for repaving in the lane nearest the school.

Asked about that, Gorday said Milestone had no choice but to block off the entryway with the concrete barriers in order to mill the pavement in front of the school. One of the two entryways will have to be closed at all times to complete the project, they said. At some point, the entry way that is being used now will be closed, and the one closed now will have to be opened, creating a new traffic challenge, school officials believe.

That means new conditions to get accustomed to for some of the estimated 9,070 vehicles that travel State Road 46 between Nashville and Columbus each day, Maginity said.

The speed limit in the construction zone near the school, which is west of Columbus just past the city limits, is 45 mph, according to the signs.

Much of the traffic is going faster than that, despite warning signs about fines for speeding in construction zones. The traffic is especially busy in the mornings during school drop-off times, Becker said.

INDOT began the $4.3 million project to resurface the state highway between Columbus and Nashville in May. Milling crews are breaking up pavement followed by paving crews, with traffic patterns shifting and motorists being directed around moving worksites by flaggers, Maginity said.

Gorday said school officials have requested a flagger for the area in front of the school for safety reasons. But as of Thursday, neither INDOT nor Milestone had placed one there.

The sheriff’s department said Thursday that while a deputy assisted on Wednesday, the school would have to hire off-duty officers to handle traffic duties if they wished to have traffic assistance in front of the school each morning and afternoon.

Sheriff Matt Myers said deputies will continue to monitor the situation and help with traffic at the school when the current call volume for police assistance allows.

Gorday emphasized that there is no animosity about the current situation. School officials are working with Milestone, law enforcement and parents to make sure everyone arrives, and departs, safely each day.

Emails have been sent to all families asking them to arrive as closely as possible to their student’s dismissal time in order to avoid congestion during afternoon pickup times. The new traffic pattern is designed to keep vehicles moving in and out of the parking lot as quickly as possible.

“The person supervising this project is working very hard. They’re doing their best to get this done,” Becker said of Milestone. “But if they had completed this and had it closed in June or July, things would have been easier.”

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What: State Road 46 resurfacing project between Columbus and Nashville.

Cost: $4.3 million

Contractor: Milestone

The project: Milestone is milling pavement before applying a new 1 1/2-inch lift of asphalt surface on a 15-mile section of State Road 46 west of Columbus. Full-depth pavement replacement of a 1,200-foot section of State Road 46 at Tipton Lakes Boulevard is also part of the project.

Traffic count: State Road 46’s traffic count between I-65 and State Road 135 is 9,070 per day.

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What: ABC-Stewart School, 6691 W. State Road 46, about four miles west of downtown Columbus.

Founded: 1969

School type: Private school, Montessori-oriented learning environment

Enrollment: About 190 students

Building: This facility is a three-unit former public school building erected in the 1950s. It includes a gymnasium, kitchen and 15 large classrooms.

Offerings: Classes for “twos,” “ages 3 through kindergarten” and grades 1-6.

For more information: Visit abc-stewart.org/ or call 812-342-3029.

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