DALTON, Mass. — The Traffic Commission is concerned that Craneville Elementary School's pickup times are causing safety issues on Park Avenue.

 

The congestion on the road is only prevalent in the afternoon when parents are parking on the street when picking their children up. 

 

Although pickup time is at 3 p.m. parents have been known to show up to the school as early as 1:15 to 1:30, Police Chief Deanna Strout told the commission at its recent meeting.

 

"The school administration is wonderful, but I don't know what the solution is because we can't force them to make their kids take the bus. And the issue is we have a very large number of parents, more so in the afternoon," she said. 

 

In the morning the traffic pattern is fine because parents pull into the main entrance and go through the circle to quickly drop their kids off, Strout said. 

 

If they want a long goodbye with their children and end up slowing down the drop-off line, they are told to say goodbye in the parking lot. 

 

The department has sent "countless letters" letting parents not to show up until 2:20 p.m. but they will not listen. 

 

"They don't listen. They come when they want," Strout said. 

 

They have had officers visit the location to tell the parents to not park there. The street already has "No Standing" signs all the way up to Chestnut Street. 

 

The department can increase enforcement of the "No Standing" signs and have the school block cars from coming into the school driveway until 2:30 p.m.

 

The department has also checked out John Street near the intersection because bus drivers have also been complaining about people parking there. 

 

If the street was as wide as Carson Avenue there wouldn't be a problem but it is a very narrow street, Commissioner Al Nadeu said. 

 

Strout agreed with Nadeu, adding that trucks go down that street and the parents parking on the side makes it a one lane from John Street all the way to Chestnut Street, which is almost the whole length. 

 

The school has tried a number of solutions including moving pick up to Ashuelot Street. However, parents were blocking driveways and residents started to complain. 

 

"There is no easy solution," Strout said. 

 

They cannot stagger the pickup times by grade because some parents have kids in different grades, she said. 

 

A possible solution is to have the pickup time after the buses leave and have pickup on both sides of the building, she said. 

 

The department is dealing with this issue every day but there are so many people breaking the rule, it is hard to enforce, she said. 

 

"How we haven't had a bad accident there because it comes down to one lane, and you got all those trucks coming down Park Avenue, the big trucks, you got school buses, God forbid you gotta get a firetruck down there," Strout said. 

 

"It's a nightmare and it's only like one disaster away and we say it all the time. It's my biggest complaint." 

 

Even going down that street at 2:30 in a passenger car is tough, Nadeu said. A fire truck would not be able to get there because it would not be able to come out of John Street. 

 

Commission Chair William Drosehn recommended the school district invest in having a traffic study done and possibly invest in creating space for parents to park. 

 

"If you tried to get them to line up around the whole line the problem is kids dart across and cars are leaving, it's just dangerous. It's so dangerous," Strout said. 

 

"So they go up the back and they have a whole system, but again, there's just the sheer number of cars that do the pickup is what the issue is." 

 

In addition to that, the state has a law that prohibits people from idling their cars for more than 5 minutes, Drosehn said. 

 

According to the state website, "The law states that a car cannot be idling more than 5 minutes unless it is being serviced or it is being used to deliver or accept goods where engine assisted power is necessary." 

 

Drosehn recommended increased enforcement of the signs by having an officer go to that area and hand out warnings. 

 

He also noted that parents should consider using the bus service since they are already paying for it with their taxes. 

 

The buses pick the students up in the front of the school in the afternoon, rather than the back like they do in the morning. 

 

"It's going to be a traffic cluster regardless because of the sheer amount of cars that go to pick up their kids. There's nothing we can do to minimize that," Strout said. 

 

Strout said she will continue to discuss solutions to the parking issues with the school administration.