Residents sick and tired of traffic jam outside school
Waiting buses and carpooling parents cause gridlock in Ste. Anne de Bellevue
In response to a resident’s complaint, Ste. Anne de Bellevue town officials say they to hope rectify some traffic concerns regarding a school drop-off and pickup zone for students.
Chris Price, who lives on Vallée St. near École du Bout-de-l’ile, said a mixture of school buses and parents driving to drop-off or pick up their kids at the French elementary school is causing traffic headaches and safety concerns for people who live along the one-way section of the crescent.
He said local residents were infor med by the school board at the end of last school year that there were would be some interruptions due to some renovations, forcing them to use Vallée instead of a small side street where there is a kiss-and-ride area.
Though all the work has been completed, Price said there are 20- to 30-minute delays each morning around 8 a.m. and in the afternoon around 3 p.m. On top of that, he said some parents stop in the middle of the road to drop off their kids since there’s a no-stopping zone right in front of the school.
“They don’t want to go park on the other side because they have to use a gravel road to get to the school parking lot,” Price said. “There’s a bus loop that has room for about three buses, but they have about five buses. The last two buses park in the street with the doors open and lights going on, so again, you’re not allowed to pass.
“All the people who live on the west side of the crescent can’t get home without waiting and waiting in that traffic if they come home in the afternoon,” he added. “Sometimes there are 10 to 15 cars backed up along the crescent. They’re stopping in the middle of the street waiting for their turn to advance and let their kid out so they can go to school.”
A meeting with Commission scolaire MargueriteBourgeoys officials is being planned to deal with the traffic, said town manager Martin Bonhomme.
“We sent our public security to monitor it and we know there is a problem but we are trying to work with the school board to find a solution,” he said Monday. “You have school buses, you have parents, you have cars, you have children who walk to school, so it is pretty busy. We will try to find a solution that will be acceptable to every party involved but we have to work with them.”
Since the school is located halfway through the oneway crescent, it poses some difficulties, Bonhomme added.
Meanwhile, MargueriteBourgeoys spokesperson Jean-michel Nahas said the school is located on a quiet residential street with no sidewalks. “Some buses park in front and some have to wait longer but it’s only for about five minutes in the morning,” he said. “The message is we need some cooperation with residents.”
Nahas said while the school board plans to listen to what Ste. Anne officials may propose, it feels the kiss-and-ride set up currently in place at École du Bout-del’ile is being used properly.