Wicomico school system representatives recently sat down for a friendly discussion with City of Salisbury officials and others about plans for improvements to the Onley-Bateman-South Division intersection. Superintendent of Schools Dr. John Fredericksen said he believes significant progress occurred during that discussion and all parties agreed that the intersection needs improvement, but any substantial improvements are likely to be a long time coming.
For the safety of students, families and staff, Wicomico Schools will begin using its Onley Road accesses for the 2011-12 school year, which begins on Aug. 29. Dr. Fredericksen informed the city of the school system’s plans in an Aug. 15 letter to Salisbury City Council President Terry Cohen, stating that “we will be utilizing Onley Road for school bus and other use this school year as we deem necessary for the safety of our students and community.”
“The safety of our students, families, staff, and patrons is our first priority,” Dr. Fredericksen said today. “We are responsible for the safety of approximately the approximately 2,350 sixth – twelfth grade students and 291 staff of James M. Bennett High and Bennett Middle, and countless family members, visitors, mentors, volunteers, vendors, and others who are at this site for all or part of every day during the school year and many alternate times throughout the year. Every school day there are hundreds and hundreds of walkers, bus riders, student drivers, staff drivers, and a large number of families who drive students to and from school. Currently, all of these vehicles travel in and out of the site via three entrances on College Avenue, causing major traffic delays on and off site and safety concerns for pedestrians and motorists alike.”
Prior to the opening of the new James M. Bennett High School, the Wicomico County Board of Education made significant improvements along College Avenue to improve traffic flow and enhance safety. These improvements, done in consultation with the city, included the plan to move bus traffic to Onley Road to separate this large vehicle traffic from other motorists as well as walkers. Both the College Avenue upgrades and the plan to use Onley Road were undertaken with the knowledge that the city and county had already agreed to improve their portions of Onley Road and Onley-Bateman-South Division intersection. To date, only the county and the Board of Education have completed these improvements.
To allow more time for the planning of improvements to the Onley-Bateman-South Division intersection, the school system in August 2010 made the decision to temporarily postpone its use of Onley Road for bus traffic. The temporary measures put in place to move all traffic through the lots on the College Avenue side of the two schools were a daily safety concern and a hazard for all who drove or walked on the property during arrival and dismissal.
In late spring, the school system completed the access adjustments, parking lots and roadways needed to make optimal current use of the site (until Bennett Middle opens in its new location in Fruitland and the James M. Bennett High project is completed with full use of the current site). “We must now act in a manner to improve safety for this site,” Dr. Fredericksen said. “Our arrangements have not been finalized, but by removing some or all of our JMB buses from the College Avenue access points and permanently relocating their services to the Onley access lot, we can reduce the traffic count by up to 22 large vehicles carrying up to approximately 900 students.” Buses moving to Onley Road would utilize a bus drop-off designed for that purpose, with no need for buses to cross pedestrian pathways.
“I know that the Wicomico County Board of Education and the City of Salisbury are absolutely committed to improving the safety of our students, families, staff, and patrons before anyone is hurt,” Dr. Fredericksen said. “We look forward to continuing discussions and planning for improvements to this intersection even as we begin to make effective use of all access points and roads serving the Bennett Complex for the safety of students, staff, families, and the community.”
For the safety of students, families and staff, Wicomico Schools will begin using its Onley Road accesses for the 2011-12 school year, which begins on Aug. 29. Dr. Fredericksen informed the city of the school system’s plans in an Aug. 15 letter to Salisbury City Council President Terry Cohen, stating that “we will be utilizing Onley Road for school bus and other use this school year as we deem necessary for the safety of our students and community.”
“The safety of our students, families, staff, and patrons is our first priority,” Dr. Fredericksen said today. “We are responsible for the safety of approximately the approximately 2,350 sixth – twelfth grade students and 291 staff of James M. Bennett High and Bennett Middle, and countless family members, visitors, mentors, volunteers, vendors, and others who are at this site for all or part of every day during the school year and many alternate times throughout the year. Every school day there are hundreds and hundreds of walkers, bus riders, student drivers, staff drivers, and a large number of families who drive students to and from school. Currently, all of these vehicles travel in and out of the site via three entrances on College Avenue, causing major traffic delays on and off site and safety concerns for pedestrians and motorists alike.”
Prior to the opening of the new James M. Bennett High School, the Wicomico County Board of Education made significant improvements along College Avenue to improve traffic flow and enhance safety. These improvements, done in consultation with the city, included the plan to move bus traffic to Onley Road to separate this large vehicle traffic from other motorists as well as walkers. Both the College Avenue upgrades and the plan to use Onley Road were undertaken with the knowledge that the city and county had already agreed to improve their portions of Onley Road and Onley-Bateman-South Division intersection. To date, only the county and the Board of Education have completed these improvements.
To allow more time for the planning of improvements to the Onley-Bateman-South Division intersection, the school system in August 2010 made the decision to temporarily postpone its use of Onley Road for bus traffic. The temporary measures put in place to move all traffic through the lots on the College Avenue side of the two schools were a daily safety concern and a hazard for all who drove or walked on the property during arrival and dismissal.
In late spring, the school system completed the access adjustments, parking lots and roadways needed to make optimal current use of the site (until Bennett Middle opens in its new location in Fruitland and the James M. Bennett High project is completed with full use of the current site). “We must now act in a manner to improve safety for this site,” Dr. Fredericksen said. “Our arrangements have not been finalized, but by removing some or all of our JMB buses from the College Avenue access points and permanently relocating their services to the Onley access lot, we can reduce the traffic count by up to 22 large vehicles carrying up to approximately 900 students.” Buses moving to Onley Road would utilize a bus drop-off designed for that purpose, with no need for buses to cross pedestrian pathways.
“I know that the Wicomico County Board of Education and the City of Salisbury are absolutely committed to improving the safety of our students, families, staff, and patrons before anyone is hurt,” Dr. Fredericksen said. “We look forward to continuing discussions and planning for improvements to this intersection even as we begin to make effective use of all access points and roads serving the Bennett Complex for the safety of students, staff, families, and the community.”
Does the public realize the cost to the City of Salisbury to complete this project? I have been told the costs could easily exceed two million dollars. The City of Salisbury did agree to this project a while back during the tenure of an acting Public Works Director who determined project costs to be in the $100,000/$200,000 neighborhood. His estimates were flawed and allowed city council members to make "poor" decisions based on inaccurate costs. Just because one poor decision was made, does that justify the current council making another poor decision by spending a lot of money that we do not have. This problem needs to be resolved but thr Board of Education should work with the community and it's funding problems to resolve this over time instead of "forcing our hand" by placing traffic on this intersection at this moment. The traffic on South Division is unbearable currently during the day when school is in session and this decision by the Board will likely bring traffic to a stand still. College Ave seems to be a better option for traffic flow at this time until money for a permanent solution is available. The City can't spend money it does not have. We must work together. College Ave has "handled" this traffic for many years and I believe can continue to do so for a while to come. We have a situation, no doubt, but we need to look at minimal impact alternatives until funding is available. The City will live up to it's end of the bargain but can't mortgage our future for something as insignificant as this at this time.
ReplyDeleteJoe, will you be commenting on this?
ReplyDeleteThe city agreed to this and has been pussy footing around for two years, all the while with the cost going upward. I will assume that Dr Fredericksen has seen how the Council is incapable of making a decision on anything of importance. In my opinion, Dr Fredericksen has taken the bull by the horn, so to speak, and made a good decision.
Say what you want about the BOE, but you have to agree they have completed their part of the agreement, while the council has noy. Perhaps the council should call upon their attorney,Paul Wilbur, get his opinion, let him spend hours, days and weeks investigating Dr Fredericksen's decision, which will cost the tax-payers even more dollars.
This project was bid out a years ago with a cost of 400k. No way this project would exceed 2 million.
ReplyDeleteThe City has a way of backing out of deals, which in return cost them more money. Correct?