As with the opening of any new school, traffic around
Christopher High School might be a bit hairy on the first day of
school, but district administrators hope parents will quickly pick
up on the
”
common sense
”
traffic design.
As with the opening of any new school, traffic around Christopher High School might be a bit hairy on the first day of school, but district administrators hope parents will quickly pick up on the “common sense” traffic design.
West Day Road and Santa Teresa Boulevard cradle the campus to the north and east and the district built two new roads – a private driveway and front entrance to the south and Cougar Court to the west – to complete the loop. One-way traffic will flow in a clockwise direction around the school as cars enter the front entrance, which is located off Santa Teresa directly across from East Day Road. Two lanes in front of the school will allow parents to pull into the right lane to drop off their children and then merge into the left lane and exit the school, Superintendent Deborah Flores said. The drop off area runs for nearly a quarter mile and is part of “one of the best traffic flow designs I’ve seen at a high school,” Flores said.
“It’s a great drop off area so we want parents using it,” she said.
If a motorist tries to turn onto Cougar Court from West Day, they will be confronted with oncoming, one-way traffic, Flores said. With the lengthy drop off area in front of the school, she also cautioned parents against dropping of their students on East Day. Without a pedestrian walkway across Santa Teresa from East Day to the school entrance, the crossing conditions are not safe and police will be “ticketing heavily” those parents tempted to unload their children on East Day, Flores said.
In case the pedestrian bridge connecting the campus with the neighborhood off Sunrise Drive directly south of the school isn’t finished by the first day of school, the district plans to have a shuttle bus meet walking students at the corner of Cooper Place and Sunrise Drive. Students coming from the south are not to walk on Santa Teresa north of Longmeadow Drive because the sidewalk ends between Longmeadow and Sunrise, Flores said. Students must be at the shuttle bus by 7:30 a.m.
Students walking from the north on Santa Teresa should be careful of traffic, as there is no sidewalk, and walk west on West Day, where sidewalks are being installed, Flores said.
Since the roads around CHS will still be under construction for the school’s opening, the Gilroy Police Department and possibly deputies from the Sheriff’s Office will direct traffic, Police Chief Denise Turner said. Three officers, including traffic officer Nestor Quinones, will be stationed along Santa Teresa Thursday and Friday, Turner said.
For about a month, the traffic signals being installed at the corners of Santa Teresa and East Day and Santa Teresa and West Day will not be functioning, said Sgt. Jim Gillio. Officers will reconvene Friday afternoon to assess the need for traffic control going into the second week of school, Gillio said.
Motorists driving on Santa Teresa should expect delays and significantly more traffic, police and school officials. As a major expressway, the speed limit along Santa Teresa near CHS – usually 50 mph – is 35 mph because it is the construction zone, Flores said. The district will bring the speed down to 25 mph from Sunrise to West Day, she said.
“Everyone is united in the effort to make sure the school opens safely,” Flores said.
