Every morning, parents and students line Old Crystal Bay Road trying to get themselves or their kids to school. Orono is unique in that Kindergarteners through 12 grade students all go to school along the same road, and it’s convenient in many ways. But because the school district is so condensed, traffic can become quite the problem.
The Orono District Office has recently hired SRF Consulting to conduct a research study and gather data on the traffic patterns of Orono Schools. SRF creates and implements studies all over the Midwest, analyzing both large and small scale projects.
One of their featured projects is the Middleton Wisconsin Downtown Circulation project. This project studied the parking needs, traffic analysis, pedestrian habits and overall effectiveness of the roadway the city had currently step up. For Orono, SRF will be observing traffic and meeting with different school administrators to get an all inclusive view on the traffic patterns of Old Crystal Bay.
“I expect a high-level comprehensive review and data collection that will be used to model new solutions for the growing issue we have of traffic and pedestrian safety,” Coordinator of Facilities & Safety for Orono Schools Justin McCoy said.
One of the things that would help the traffic immensely is encouraging more people to ride the bus. By decreasing the number of cars that bring their elementary school children to school traffic would in turn decrease.
“We expect a report back to the school district towards the end of May, first part of June,” McCoy said. With the reports back hopefully action will be taken to help Orono’s traffic situation.
If their is a recommendation on a change in the roadway, the involvement of the city of Orono would vary.
“The city would have to review the new plans for the Old Crystal Bay and the surrounding area,” Director of Public Works and City Engineer Adam Edwards said.
One of the more recent attempts to remedy Old Crystal Bay’s traffic was the installation of the blinking solar powered stop signs on the two major crosswalks.
“The new flashing stop signs were installed upon request from the school, after their had been several reports of vehicles not stopping at the old standard stops signs. The school and city partnered on the purchase of the solar powered flashing stop signs,” Edwards said.