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CONSIDERATION OF CHANGING THE DESIGNATION OF CRUCE STREET BETWEEN PICKARD AVENUE AND FLOOD AVENUE ADJACENT TO MCKINLEY ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FROM TWO-WAY TO ONE-WAY BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 7:00 A.M. AND 4:00 P.M.
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BACKGROUND: Section 20-201(2) of the City’s Code of Ordinances gives sole authority to determine and designate any street, alley or part thereof as a one-way street to the City Council.
Over the years, City Council has approved a number of requests to designate residential streets in the proximity of elementary schools as one-way between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on weekdays. The purpose of the conversions has been to improve traffic circulation around some of the schools and relieve the congestion created by parents stopping on the road to drop off and pick up their children. The most recent change, which targeted the 700 block of Hughbert Street, was approved by City Council on March 11, 2008 at the request of the Jefferson Elementary School administration.
DISCUSSION: On June 23, 2014, Mrs. Carol Emerson, Principal of McKinley Elementary School, submitted a written request asking the City to consider changing traffic flow on Cruce Street between Pickard Avenue and Flood Avenue from two-way to one-way in the westbound direction between 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on weekdays. The proposal is intended to provide relief from traffic congestion and to improve traffic safety for the parents, students and residents in the area. Along with the letter, Mrs. Emerson submitted a petition signed by two of the three property owners affected by the change. School officials were unable to collect the third signature because the property was vacant at the time.
The proposal is one of the elements of a larger plan to improve traffic circulation around the school. This plan, which was developed in collaboration with the school’s Campus Safety Committee, Norman Police Department. and the City’s Traffic Control Division, will re-orient student pick up and drop off traffic away from Flood Avenue to Cruce Street with installation of a new driveway along the west side of the school property, immediately east and parallel to Pickard Avenue.
Construction of the driveway will be performed by the City’s Street Division in August of 2014. The cost of the work, which is estimated at $50,000, is being jointly funded by the City and Norman Public Schools (NPS). The City’s share is included in the FYE 2015 Capital Improvement Plan [Account 050-9082-431.61-01 (McKinley School Traffic Circulation - Construction) / Project No. TC-0042.
City staff is working closely with NPS staff to complete the work in early August of 2014 and to have the new drop-off/pick-up operation in place by the beginning of the fall semester.
RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends approval of the request from McKinley Elementary School administrators to designate Cruce Street between Pickard Avenue and Flood Avenue as a one-way street in the westbound direction between the hours of 7:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on weekdays.