Community members and school officials have recently called for stricter regulations in the drop-off areas around campus. In response, the San José Police Department has announced new plans to improve road safety during the school commute.
Currently, the intersections around campus become congested before and after school as drivers, bikers and pedestrians converge at the same time. According to the SJPD and Assistant Principal Tara Grande, traffic violations have been observed near the school.
“People are very anxious to get their kids to school on time,” Grande said. “But they’re not following the laws or waiting their turn as they should.”
The updates include painting high-visibility crosswalks on both intersections, which will be bracketed by painted curb extensions and plastic posts to make them more visible to drivers.
“I feel like it would be helpful because people don’t necessarily ignore the crosswalks, they just can’t see them,” said junior Olivia Hu, who walks to school.
Along with this, they plan to build a 260-ft hardened centerline between the car and bike lane to prevent drivers from making illegal U-turns using the bike lane on Johnson Ave, as well as create an extended left turn pocket for drivers.
“Everybody is trying to drop off their kids before the crosswalk, so the cars block the bikeway,” said sophomore Aarav Karasi, who bikes to school regularly. “I have to get onto the sidewalk to avoid the cars.”
Administration predicts controversy from these changes as they will slow down drivers. For this reason, Principal Maria Jackson has recommended in her weekly emails that students allot five extra minutes while coming to school.
“It’s going to take students longer to get here, but it will also allow things to flow more smoothly,” Grande said. “So once everyone gets used to it, there will not be that big of a delay.”
However, these changes took great effort and advocacy by school officials and the community.
“I reached out to the Department of Transportation in San José, but it’s a much bigger city and ours is not the most problematic area,” Grande said. “But we were able to start talking about some changes that we wanted to see.”
One factor that led to progress in Lynbrook was San José’s District 1 Youth Advisory Council. Including many Lynbrook students, this board made their own plans regarding the intersections surrounding the school. Junior Yuvraj Gill has led this project since last year.
“I worked with San Jose State University to conduct audits on roads and we looked at the safety of roads, whether there is a distinct bike lane, the cracks in the roads and other factors to address where there can be a lack of safety.” Gill said.
In the coming weeks, construction will continue around the surrounding roads of Lynbrook. The SJPD expects the roads to become slower, but overall safer.
“Parents might have to choose different locations a bit farther from the school to drop their kids off, which would be good to not congest that whole area,” Karasi said. “It’s a good idea overall.”
