Homewood-Flossmoor High School officials trying to improve traffic flow on the Flossmoor campus are prepared to send the latest plans on for a full traffic study.
DLA Architects representative Ryan Kelley presented the fifth iteration of a new traffic plan that would move buses away from the main entrance on Kedzie Avenue, provide designated parking spaces in the north parking lot for family members for student pick-up, and give H-F staff a separate parking lot.
Kelley said the “best case scenario is to separate vehicular traffic from bus traffic.”
“I think (for) anybody who’s put their kids through H-F in the last decade or so, traffic has been a nightmare. The problem I want to solve is that. If we think this design is going to do that, that’s great,” said District 233 Finance Committee member Pam Jackson during the parking concept presentation Nov. 14.
With the new science wing nearing completion, the plan calls for creating a bus loading area at the science addition plaza, which is on the east side of the South Building. The plan calls for a wide sidewalk for bus pick-up and drop-off. The estimate is 30 buses would be able to queue at once.
H-F would have to apply to the state for a curb-cut on Flossmoor Road to create the new driveway that will be the entrance for buses and for the proposed staff parking lot that will be on what now is a JV soccer field on Flossmoor Road.
The soccer field could be relocated to the corner of Flossmoor Road and Governors Highway, or the team could use the playing field on the north side of the North Building, Superintendent Scott Wakeley said.
The buses would follow a road on the east side of the South Building until they come to a T-intersection at the pond. At that point, buses would split off to exit right to get to Governors Highway to enter southbound traffic, or left to Kedzie entering northbound traffic.
Parent drivers, who now wait in the north parking lot blocking parked student cars, would be moved to a designated parent lot just north of the natatorium. They would exit to Kedzie at the traffic light.
“I love that the parents in cars are away from the buses for the most part and (have a) unified place to go,” said board member Steve Anderson.
One parent at the meeting raised safety concerns for students who walk along Flossmoor Road to get to H-F. Wakeley said a traffic attendant would be added at that traffic intersection. Jackson also raised concerns about students walking the path alongside buses.
