Farmington High School Assistant Principal Endorses Traffic Pattern

A piloted traffic pattern at Farmington High School would become permanent, if the Town Plan and Zoning Commission goes along with a recommendation from Assistant Principal Curt Pandiscio.

The traffic pilot, which barred vehicles from entering the traffic circle in front of the cafeteria, created a one-way flow by the side entrance and kept all but staff and bus traffic from the auditorium side, was initiated in the fall and given an extension to see how the plan would work during the winter months.

At the Board of Education meeting Monday night Pandiscio presented the school’s findings with an endorsement.

“We’ve traded one high-volume area for another but we’ve spread the cars out over a little more distance, created a one-way traffic flow and we’ve been able to put out some monitors,” he said. “We think we’ve distributed the cars better and made it safer for students.”

To assess how well the new traffic pattern was working, drivers were timed on how quickly they were able to drop off students in the morning, pick up in the afternoon and how quickly the parking lot emptied.

The average drop-off time in the morning is 2.5 minutes, Pandiscio said, from when a driver reaches the top of Monteith Drive, to when she heads back down to the light. The trip can take as long as 4 or 5 minutes at peak time.

Dismissal takes a bit longer – up to 10 minutes, he said, for the student parking lot to clear out – but under the old pattern it could take 20 minutes.

“In the afternoon we’ve seen a huge change in that student parking lot because there are no cars coming left at the top,” Pandiscio explained. “When students come out there’s a traffic monitor there and he just waves them on out and we can clear out that student parking lot with 400 cars plus parents in about 10 minutes.”

The arrangement is much safer for students, he said, especially since traffic has been eliminated from the circle, where students cross all day to switch classes.

The school did have a problem with parents making U-turns at the top of the hill, but that has mostly stopped, Pandiscio said.

Board members suggested placing a staff member at the “Walmart entrance,” from the student parking lot (named for all the glass).