City Council approves school zone, new four-way stop

Following a slew of requests from South Burlington School District board members regarding safer traffic conditions surrounding the district’s five schools, the city council last week approved establishing a school zone at the Rick Marcotte Central School along with a four-way stop on Market Street at the driveway to the school.

Since February, the school board, along with superintendent Violet Nichols, have raised the alarm over safer traffic conditions at each of the district’s five schools: Rick Marcotte Central School located on Market Street, Orchard School on Baldwin Avenue, Gertrude Chamberlain School on White Street, and Frederick H. Tuttle Middle and South Burlington High School, both located on Dorset Street.

Although all of the schools have remained a concern, the situation at Rick Marcotte and areas surrounding Market Street have intensified significantly as construction on new developments has progressed, specifically with the construction of Catamount Run, a new 300-unit housing initiative.

The school board has made several written requests to the city council with most of the appeals remaining the same: reduced speeds, designated school zones with lights and radar, and crossing guard assistance — specifically at Rick Marcotte, a position currently filled by one volunteer, Sue Conley, a grandparent of a Rick Marcotte student.

The South Burlington Speed Limit Resolution, which is part of the City’s Motor Vehicle and Traffic Ordinance, did not include a provision for the establishment of school zones until it was updated on Oct. 3, 2022, as part of an effort to address concerns about traffic speeds, specifically on White Street. There is presently one school zone — on White Street near the Chamberlin School— established under the resolution.

But in order for the city to implement more speed changes and school zones, the areas had to first undergo engineering studies and analyses and wait for the results to be finalized.

Studies done by Chittenden County Regional Planning found that of the 4,414 cars observed per day on Market Street, most were traveling slightly higher than the 25 miles per hour posted speed limit.

“Based on all of those different things, the Chittenden County Regional Planning engineers have recommended a school zone be implemented on Market Street,” Erica Quallen, South Burlington’s deputy director of capital projects, said, noting that the school zone would be marked at 20 miles per hour. “It would be time-restricted to be about an hour or so during drop off in the morning and pick up in the evening. And that would be signified by the flashing lights and the radar speed feedback signs, and that goes to a few 100 feet in either direction.”

Under current conditions, only one of the eight criteria for implementing new stop signs is met, but engineers determined that with more than a thousand new homes expected in coming years, as well as over 50,000 square feet of commercial space, traffic volumes are expected to increase exponentially.

“Instead of having to turn around really quickly after the next building opens up and doing this from the get-go again, we have decided, based on recommendations and conversations here, that the intersection of Market Street and the driveways for the City Hall parking lot and the drive to school become a four-way stop,” Quallen explained.

The $30,000 in signs and equipment necessary to establish a school zone on Market Street has been approved for allocation from the city’s surplus funds of over $2 million at the close of fiscal year 2023.

On top of multiple studies currently being done, the city is currently planning to next evaluate lighting, traffic calming, and the establishment of school zones on Dorset Street, at an additional cost of $30,000 from surplus funding.