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Home My WebLink AboutINS-14-076 - School Bus Loading Zones - Various Streets Listed Staff Rport I r rc'.�► t .R Infrastructure Services Department wmkitchener.ca REPORT TO: Infrastructure Services Committee DATE OF MEETING: August 11, 2014 SUBMITTED BY: Justin Readman, 519-741-2200 ext. 7038 PREPARED BY: Ronald Schirm, 519-741-2200 ext. 7232 WARD(S) INVOLVED: 1, 2, 3, 4, 7 DATE OF REPORT: July 21, 2014 REPORT NO.: INS-14-076 SUBJECT: School Bus Loading Zones - Parkland Crescent, Morgan Avenue, Autumn Hill Crescent, Upper Canada Drive, Lennox Lewis Way and Hickson Drive RECOMMENDATION: That the Uniform Traffic By-law be amended to establish School Bus Loading Zones on Parkland Crescent, on Autumn Hill Crescent, on Morgan Avenue, on Upper Canada Drive, on Lennox Lewis Way and on Hickson Drive, as outlined in Infrastructure services report INS 14-076. BACKGROUND: Transportation Services is in receipt of a request from the School Transportation Services of Waterloo Region to establish school bus loading zones at various schools throughout the City. A change in school board policy related to the transportation of eligible secondary school students as well as general bussing needs attributed to population growth and catchment area changes has necessitated this request. School bus Loading zones are established along school frontage in order to provide a location where school busses are able to load/unload students without flashing their stop lights or displaying their stop signs, thereby mitigating the disruption of through traffic on a given street. School Bus Loading Zones are signed as no stopping anytime, as per the general provisions of the Uniform Traffic By-law. REPORT: Transportation Services, as requested, has reviewed the request to install school bus loading zones at various schools from the School Transportation Services of Waterloo Region in terms of feasibility, safety and operations and determined the most suitable locations. Care must be taken when establishing school bus loading zones as school busses can present serious visibility issues for vehicles and pedestrians. 11 - 1 L Driftwood Park Public School — 50 Parkland Crescent Driftwood Park Public School is a junior kindergarten to grade 5 school located on Parkland Crescent, a local roadway in Ward 7. The roadway is 8 metres wide. There will be 2 full size, and 2 small school busses serving this school in September 2014. At this time it is not anticipated that students will need to cross Parkland Crescent in the vicinity of the school at bell times. A school bus loading zone on the west side of Parkland Crescent, beginning 20 metres north of the daycare driveway access and running 40 metres north would provide a large enough school bus loading zone for the demand and is the most suitable location in terms of impact on the driveway accesses to the school and daycare. It is therefore recommended that a school bus loading zone be established on the west side of Parkland Crescent from a point 165 metres north of Driftwood Drive to a point 40 metres north thereof. ii. St. Mark Separate School — 240 Autumn Hill Crescent St. Mark Separate School is a junior kindergarten to Grade 8 school located on Autumn Hill Crescent, a local roadway in Ward 7. The roadway width is 9 metres. There will be one full size and one small school bus serving this school in September 2014. Students who need to cross Autumn Hill Crescent are advised to use the student safety patrol at the intersection of Autumn Hill Crescent and Westheights Drive. Traffic is regulated by a stop sign on Autumn Hill Crescent there. A school bus loading zone on the west side of Autumn Hill Crescent, beginning 10 metres south of the school driveway access and running 20 metres south would provide a large enough school bus loading zone for the demand and is the most suitable location in terms of impact on the driveway accesses and the intersection of Autumn Hill Crescent an Westheights Drive. It is therefore recommended that a school bus loading zone be established on the west side of Autumn Hill Crescent from a point 104 metres north of Westheights Drive to a point 20 metres north thereof. iii. Howard Robertson Public School — 130 Morgan Avenue Howard Robertson Public School is a junior kindergarten to Grade 6 school located on Morgan Avenue, a minor collector roadway in Ward 2. The roadway width is 8 metres. There will be one full size school bus serving this school in September 2014. Students needing to cross Morgan Avenue can utilize the adult crossing guard locations situated on Morgan Avenue at Fairway Road and on Morgan Avenue adjacent to the Centreville Chicopee Community Centre Driveway access. Traffic Calming measures installed on Morgan Avenue include speed humps and a raised crosswalk with curb extensions at the adult crossing guard location at the Centreville Chicopee Community Centre. 11 - 2 A school bus loading zone on the north side of Morgan Avenue, beginning 70 metres east of the school driveway access and continuing 13 metres east thereof provides the necessary capacity and does not interfere with driveway, crossing guard operations or existing traffic calming measures. It is therefore recommended that a school bus loading zone be established on the north side of Morgan Avenue from a point 175 metres east of Fairway Road to a point 13 metres east thereof. iv. Pioneer Park Public School — 55 Upper Canada Drive Pioneer Park Public School is a junior kindergarten to Grade 6 school located on Upper Canada Drive, a local roadway in Ward 4. The roadway width is 10 metres. As part of traffic calming measures speed humps and a raised crosswalk with a curb extension at the student safety patrol assisted school crossing in front of the school were installed in 2011-12. There is also an adult crossing guard location on Doon Village Road at Upper Canada Drive. There will be two full size school busses serving this school in September 2014. A school bus loading zone on the south side of Upper Canada Drive, beginning 43 metres east of the safety patrol location and continuing 26 metres east thereof provides the necessary capacity and does not interfere with the student safety patrol operations or existing traffic calming measures. It is therefore recommended that a school bus loading zone be established on the south side of Upper Canada Drive from a point 240 metres east of Doon Village Road to a point 26 metres east thereof. V. St. Mary's High school — 1500 Block Line Road St. Mary's High school is a secondary school located on Block Line Road in Ward 3. The school also fronts on Lennox Lewis Way, a local roadway. There is a 200 metre long bus bay located along the school frontage on Lennox Lewis way. This was used by Grand River Transit busses serving the school. A policy change in regards to school bus transportation for secondary eligible school students has changed service providers. Grand River Transit no longer provides this service. School Transportation Services of Waterloo Region now busses eligible students to St. Mary's High school using school busses. There will be 26 school busses serving the school. The length needed for this is 400 metres. It is not prudent to allow for school bus activity beyond the existing bus bay, therefore School Transportation Services of Waterloo Region have been advised that they need to stage their bussing within the available 200 metres, which would accommodate approximately 15 school busses simultaneously. The bus bay is no longer required by Grand River Transit. It is therefore recommended that a school bus loading zone be established on the south side of Lennox Lewis Way from a point 115 metres west of Block Line Road to a point 200 metres west thereof. 11 - 3 vi. Stanley Park Senior Public School — 191 Hickson Drive Stanley Park Senior Public School is grade 7 & 8 school located on Hickson Drive, a local roadway in Ward 1. The roadway width is 10 metres. There will be two full size school busses and 8 small busses serving this school in September 2014. It is anticipated that all small busses will be accommodated on-site. A school bus loading zone on the east side of Hickson Drive, beginning 33 metres south of Secord Avenue continuing 26 metres south thereof provides the necessary capacity and does not interfere with the intersections of Hickson Drive and Secord Avenue, and Hickson Drive and Inlet Avenue. It is therefore recommended that a school bus loading zone be established on the east side of Upper Canada Drive from a point 33 metres south of Secord Avenue to a point 26 metres south thereof. ALIGNMENT WITH CITY OF KITCHENER STRATEGIC PLAN: This initiative falls under the Community Priority of Quality of Life. "Work with partners, including all orders of government, to create a culture of safety in our community." By working with School Transportation Services of Waterloo Region, bussing and operational concerns at the affected schools have been addressed. FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: 16 school bus loading zone signs will be needed to adequately sign the locations contained within this report. $3000 will be taken from the existing sign maintenance budget. COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT: School Transportation Services of Waterloo Region was the primary agency consulted as part of this project. They will be consulting with the individual schools in terms of bussing requirements. INFORM — This report has been posted to the City's website with the agenda in advance of the council / committee meeting. CONSULT — School Transportation Services of Waterloo Region were consulted in terms of the bussing needs at the various locations identified within this report COLLABORATE — Transportation Services has excellent working relationships with the Waterloo District School Board, Waterloo District Catholic School Board and the School Transportation Services of Waterloo Region in managing school traffic related issues that arise from time to time. ACKNOWLEDGED BY: Pauline Houston, Deputy CAO 11 - 4 Appendix "A": Driftwood Park Public School - 50 Parkland Crescent t Driftwood Park Public School 1, i f R�'I Proposed School Bus Loading Zon r 11 - 5 Appendix "B": St. Mark Separate School —240 Autumn Hill Crescent I ,, Existing Student Safety Patrol location St.Mark Separate School �i �c��j, Proposed School Bus Loading Zon 11 - 6 Appendix "C": Howard Robertson Public School — 130 Morgan Avenue N „ Existing Adult Crossing Guard location Howard Robertson Public School it G 26 �/'v 25 Proposed School Bus Loading Zon r�&1 11 - 7 Appendix "D": Pioneer Pa r Public School-5 Upper Canada Drive Pm posed School Bus Loading Zo \ E igbg Student Safety Patrol loca ti . � moneerPark Public School \ \ E is ng Adult Crossing Guard location ~ \ Appendix "E": St. Mary's High School— 1500 Block Line Road N Proposed School Bus Loading Zon St. Mary's High School r n 11 - 9 Appendix "F": Stanley Park Public School— 191 Hickson Drive Proposed School Bus Loading Zon l y o, Stanley Park Public School J Ili ,r 1 11 - 10