South End residents blast Concord School Board’s new middle school bus traffic plan

CONCORD, NH — Residents in the streets surrounding Rundlett Middle School have hired an attorney to stop a transportation plan that redirects school bus traffic from the southern part of the site to the northern area of the school.

John Weaver of McLane Middleton in Manchester is working with residents to get the Transportation Policy Advisory Committee and the Concord City Council to take action against the plan. In a letter to the board, which will be taken up at a meeting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at the Concord City Council chambers, the attorney requested the committee recognize its authority over traffic plans by the school board, which is a separate, autonomous body. He is also requesting the committee advise the Concord City Council of its role and responsibilities regarding traffic patterns and the safety of residents surrounding the school. Weaver said the board should recognize the proposed bus route changes compromise the safety of residents in the neighborhood and order the school board to change the rerouting.

Proposed Shift

Currently, middle school students who arrive by bus are loaded and unloaded via South Street on 19 school buses. The buses then head back to South Street via Conant Drive.

Parents also enter and exit from South Street to drop off and pick up their children. They then exit via Conant Drive and other side streets, depending on which neighborhood they live in.

Under the reconstruction plan, the bus routes enter and exit via South Street at Noyes Street, north of the school, then circle around a new drive from Noyes Street onto Cypress Street and back onto Noyes Street to South Street.

Parents would continue to enter via South Street and exit onto Contant Drive and other side streets.

Some staff parking will also be moved to a lot the northern side of the school.

The configuration, Weaver said, makes Noyes and Cypress streets “difficult for two-way traffic flow” due to the streets being “narrow, unstriped, residential roadways.” Neither street “currently carries any bus traffic at all,” he wrote. The streets also have no sidewalks — meaning there was “no separated space to absorb a walker’s misjudgment, a driver’s inattention, or a moment where a child steps out from behind a parked or idling vehicle.”

Noyes Street’s configuration is noted for “making it difficult for two-way traffic flow.” Even without buses, “Cypress Street between Cornell and Noyes streets has the highest collision rate of any segment studied for the Rundlett project and neither street currently has any sidewalk or bicycle accommodation,” Weaver said. He added, “The city's review also identified unresolved inconsistencies in the bus and vehicle volume figures underlying the study’s conclusions and stated plainly that neighborhood concerns about pedestrian and bicycle safety on Noyes, Cypress, and Springfield Streets ‘are not being addressed’.”

Weaver said neighborhood residents have tried “continuously” to raise safety concerns with the school board, to no avail, while the Concord City Council has not weighed in on the safety concerns or vetted the plan.

“While we agree that the council has no authority over where or how the school board builds its school, the council has the legal authority, and the responsibility that comes with exclusive control, over the safety of the public streets that lie beyond the school property line,” Weaver said. “That is particularly true where there is clear evidence that safety will be compromised, as is the case here.”

Weaver outlined legal ordinances that gave TPAC and the city council jurisdiction over the issue. He also said the council had state authority and prior case law showing that it was responsible for regulating streets and public ways and ensuring residents’ safety.

Some Resident Reactions

Along with safety, quality of life, noise, access for EMTs to the streets, air quality from idling buses, and other issues were also raised by residents.

A petition circulated with neighbors received 70 signatures opposing the plan.

Several residents wrote to TPAC about the issue and have also wondered aloud whether the proposal was an “I told you so!” consequence of supporting the school's construction on its current site, yet no school board member mentioned any changes to bus patterns before the charger amendment vote. Another resident said the changes were not an issue of NIMBYism but, instead, about implementing what appears to be a dangerous plan that will be expensive to correct once the school is rebuilt. The resident also stated the district’s building committee seemed to be “dismissive” of the concerns raised by residents and their alternative suggestions. Decades ago, when the school was smaller, buses did exit on Cypress Street, but that pattern was changed due to it being deemed unsafe, the resident said.

The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 23, in the City Council Chambers at 37 Green St.

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The article South End Residents Blast Concord School Board’s New Middle School Bus Traffic Plan appeared first on Concord Patch.