Jackson High, St. Paul Lutheran schools work together on traffic issues in uptown

School and city leaders are working on a solution to ease traffic congestion between St. Paul and Jackson High School.

So far, they've come up with an initial plan that will add a drop-off lane and eliminate some parking, in a move officials believe will improve student safety.

In February, Dennis Parham, chairman of St. Paul Lutheran Church and School, wrote a letter asking for advice from the Jackson Board of Aldermen on how to address the influx of students to the under-construction "freshmen center" at Jackson High School.

Since about 400 students will be transferring to the high school when classes resume Aug. 22, traffic congestion will increase, and, Parham wrote in February, "The total added volume of vehicle traffic will make it very difficult to move safely through this area during peak arrival/dismissal times."

City engineer Clint Brown said at Monday's Board of Aldermen meeting that a committee was formed and has met twice to discuss needed changes to the traffic control measures in place near Jackson High School and St. Paul, on West Jefferson Street.

The proposal is strictly street paint and signage to begin with, Brown said in an email Tuesday. That way, if the plan does work out and is satisfactory to all parties, more permanent measures such as sidewalks and/or raised crosswalks could be explored.

West Jefferson, starting at Missouri Street and continuing behind the football stadium, is now a two-lane road with parking spaces on either side, Brown said at Monday's meeting.

The proposal, arrived at by city staff after receiving input from both schools, would remove parking on the street during daytime hours and add a pickup/drop-off lane.

Jefferson Street would still have a northbound and southbound lane, Brown said.

That way, people can still park on the street for football games or concerts, Brown said, but traffic flow during peak hours would be improved.

The area would be striped as a no-parking zone, he said, but signs would indicate parking would be allowed after 4 p.m. and before 7 a.m.

To Alderwoman Wanda Young's question about how many parking spots the school would lose during the day, Brown said the school would lose some spaces, but other parking areas are not fully used.

"And the schools are both in on the plan," Brown added.

At the intersection of Jefferson and Oklahoma streets, Brown said, stop signs would be added, lanes would be re-striped and traffic barriers would be added to help direct traffic.

A stoplight at that intersection could be a potential future project, Brown said in response to Alderman David Reiminger's question about adding a lighted signal, since the initial project is intended to be inexpensive to start.

Another area, between Russell and Missouri streets, isn't wide enough for three lanes, Brown said, because of a trench drain, so instead, the westbound lane will be widened to serve as a pickup/drop-off lane for St. Paul.

Adjacent property owners would need to be notified about potential changes, Brown said, but in the Russell and Jefferson intersection area, only the two schools, a private residence and a salon would be affected.

City administrator Jim Roach said the salon, Styles Unlimited, has historically had issues with not enough parking.

"This isn't going to make them feel better, based on what I know," Roach said.

Brown said that if the Aldermen could consider ordinances concerning the re-striping of Jefferson Street and adding stop signs, the Russell and Jefferson intersection could be addressed later on.

Brown said both schools also identified the intersection at Adams and Oklahoma streets as a needed change -- to become an all-way stop instead of the two-way stop it is now.

The hope is that adding stop signs to the intersection would also cut down on traffic incidents in the area, Brown added.

mniederkorn@semissourian.com

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