NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — The Nashville Department of Transportation will update 15 school zones over the summer to help improve safety.
According to Nashville Department of Transportation Director Diana Alarcon, there is not a uniform design applied to all schools in Nashville.
"One of the things that makes school zones effective is that they are repetitive. It's the same design every place. And then people get very accustomed to recognizing it," she said. "That has not happened here in Nashville."
The department will use $1.2 million allocated from Metro Council in last year's budget to update school zones that are along NDOT's high injury network. That refers to areas where the most crashes happen, which are usually pikes and other major roadways.
"Sometimes you go by a school and all you have is a sign on the right that says school zone and you don't even know when the school zone ends," said Alarcon. "And not every school zone has a flashing yellow that says, hey, you're in a school zone."
People sometimes speed through these school zones with children walking or biking nearby.
NDOT will be adding striping on the roadway itself in these school zones telling people to slow down. They will also make sure there's proper signage to let drivers know what times the school zone rules are active. Additionally, crews will add flashing yellow lights around school's that don't have them.
"We wanted to make sure people were very aware that they're in a school zone," said Alarcon. "People are using that [high injury network roads] as a means of getting from point A to point B. And sometimes we're in a rush, we're not really paying attention to what's around us. So we felt like we needed to beef it up."
NDOT will begin with 15 schools this summer, but the goal is to have all school zones in Nashville updated with the uniformed design within the next three to five years.
"I wish we had more dollars so we could actually look at doing more because we have a lot more than 15 schools that we need to be actually hitting and providing this service," said Alarcon. "Our goal is to do every elementary, every middle and every high school throughout Davidson County, and then go back and work with the charter school systems and getting up the same style, so that if children are walking with their parents or biking, whatever it is, they're in a very protective area at that time."
Alarcon said their department is also working with MNPS leaders to include the new markings and signage when a new school is built.
"As a new school is going in, we're working with the school system, with the public schools, about the striping going in at the same time on the ground, and putting together a traffic control about how we get kids in and out," she said. "One of the biggest complaints we hear from council members right now is there's just really no traffic control tied with drop off and pickup. So we've been working with the schools on that about how to line that up." So it's not an impact to the communities, as well as it stays safe for everyone. So we're going to continue those conversations."
The school zone safety updates are part of the Vision Zero initiative adopted back in 2019 with a goal of eliminating all traffic deaths and serious injuries.
"It also will allow our police officers who are actually out there maybe enforcing folks to follow to understand where the beginning and the end is," said Alarcon. "That's even confusing for them at this point."
Alarcon explained how being a parent drives her passion to ensure children are protected while on the road.
"As a mother and having had an incident that one of my children were hit by a car on their bike, it was very traumatic, and I have a lot of compassion for those parents," she said. "I'm very fortunate that my child was not seriously injured. And it just ended up being soreness for quite a few weeks and a lot of bumps and scratches. But I can't imagine it being something worse."
She urges drivers to do their part in protecting the community's children as well.
"We want everyone to get home alive. We want everyone to be able to celebrate their families and their loved ones. And we're going to work really hard on our side with design and engineering to make the roads safer," said Alarcon. "I need everyone on the other side to think about what it is because when you're behind the wheel of a car, you're behind a 4,000 ton killing machine, potentially."
NDOT will complete the school zone updates to the following 15 schools by the start of the 2024-2025 school year:
- Cameron College Preparatory
- Croft Middle School
- Paragon Mills Elementary School
- Ivanetta H Davis Early Learning Center
- Isaiah T. Creswell Middle School of the Arts
- Shwab Elementary School
- Stratton Elementary School
- Madison Middle School
- School Zone Safety Project
- DuPont Hadley Middle School
- Johnson Alternative Learning Center
- Mt. View Elementary School
- KIPP Antioch College Prep
- Valor Flagship Academy
- Glenview Elementary School
- Una Elementary School