Case study
VallejoJoseph Wardlaw Elementary School
In Fall 2016, a SR2S Priority Safety Project was completed at Joseph Wardlaw Elementary School in Vallejo with funding from the One Bay Area Grant (OBAG) and local funds from the City of Vallejo. The project was led by the City of Vallejo’s Senior Civil Engineer Allan Panganiban and staff, based on recommendations made from the Vallejo SR2S Community Task Force as part of the 2013 updated Safe Routes to School Plan. The City also met with Principal Juli Robbins to discuss the project and outreach to parents and neighbors during the construction and information was displayed through signage and on the website.
Timeline
In April 2015, the City of Vallejo presented the OBAG SR2S Engineering Project at Wardlaw Elementary to the Vallejo Safe Routes to School Community Task Force meeting as a priority project for construction
At the February 2016 meeting, the City announced that pre-construction work had started and the project construction would begin in the summer of 2016.
The Project was completed in September 2016.
At the main entrance of Joseph Wardlaw Elementary School, on Oakwood Avenue, there is heavy congestion before and after school and cars travel at a high rate of speed on this street. Oakwood Ave. is the only road providing vehicle access to the school parking lot. To alleviate the traffic issue, engineering improvements were made on Oakwood Drive from Redwood to Tennessee, by implementing a “road diet.” The road was re-striped to allow for 2 lanes of traffic, one for each direction, with a turn lane in the middle. This allowed for parking on either side of the street and a bike lane. The entrance to the school was also reconfigured, upgrading the handicap curb ramps and the left turn exit from the school entrance was eliminated, greatly easing congestion.
Results
Through the City of Vallejo’s efforts at Joseph Wardlaw Elementary School, traffic was significantly reduced on Oakwood Avenue and the street is much safer and more comfortable for students and parents to walk and bike to the school. The Safe Routes to School Program will continue to provide programmatic support and evaluate and monitor progress to see if these changes are influencing more students to walk or bike to school.
