City agrees to one-way street

It is nice to see so many parents, grandparents, and friends dropping off or picking up their children each day of school.  That being said, it is easy to observe the traffic issues created by the severe congestion of school buses, vehicles, and pedestrians, all converging to one spot on First Street each and every day of school.

Still considering myself new to the district, I have been told that this has "always" been an issue, and every so many years possible solutions have been discussed.

However, we have a fresh attempt to ease the concern that was approved yesterday by the South Bend City Council.  First Street, between Jefferson and Monroe, will soon become one-way.

In mid February, South Bend Mayor Struck, City Supervisor Dennis Hauck, Chief Dave Eastham and the school district discussed multiple ideas.  In the end, the one-way seemed to provide the safest, doable alternative to the current situation.  In addition to the the one-way, which will move west to east, the district is looking at adjusting the parking to be angled, as well as designate visitor only parking in specific areas.  We will also look at parallel parking our buses at the end of the day along First Street, which will keep the full street open as parents arrive and leave the school area.  Finally, we hope to work with the City to repaint crosswalks and fog lines to clearly delineate the path of travel.

We hope to start planning the transition in the next couple days, and will be working with the City to implement the new design.  Much of the painting requires drier weather, so it might be a little while before we will see the full results.

I'd like to thank the concerned parents and citizens who spoke up and brought attention to this matter.
As always, if there are questions, ideas, or comments, please feel free to email me at jtienhaa@southbendschools.org, call at 875-6041, or stop by and visit.