The High Tech High Village and the newly opened The Rock Academy at Liberty Station are in the process of welcoming students for a new school year. But with the start of the new semester there is also the added influx of vehicles delivering those students ” combined with those of the local work force, residents and Navy personnel.
It is a traffic headache that continues to snarl drive patterns on Rosecrans Street and to frustrate motorists.
But while there appears to be little relief in sight, school officials said they are trying to ease the impact their schools are having on the Liberty Station area.
“It’s prior, proper planning on the part of everybody that we hope will pay off,” said Brett Peterson, director of the Gary and Jerry-Ann Jacobs High Tech High.
The High Tech High Village, which includes three high schools, two middle schools and an elementary school, is cooperating with the Rock Academy, at 2277 Rosecrans St., to use strategies aimed at reducing the traffic nightmare, he said.
About 2,500 students and 200 employees at the High Tech High Village started classes Aug. 27.
The Rock Academy was estimated to bring in about 250 students beginning Sept. 4.
To manage traffic coming into High Tech High, Peterson said the school repainted the student drop-off area in the main parking lot on Womble Road to expedite student drop-offs and pick-ups, he said.
The High Tech High Village also staggers start times to ease heavy traffic congestion. Classes start at intervals beginning at 8 a.m. until 8:40 a.m. The schools also release students in intervals between 3 p.m. and 3:40 p.m.
In addition, High Tech High has a contract with Rideshare to conduct “ZIP code socials,” so students living in the same ZIP codes, or near each other, can carpool in the morning.
High Tech High also pays for the public transportation costs for those who qualify.
The Rock Academy starts classes at 7:30 a.m. ” earlier than the rest of the schools ” and stops at 2:30 p.m., said Doug Childress, Rock Church executive pastor.
“We are very cognizant about not creating problems,” he said. “We’ll do our part to make sure our impact is as low on the community as possible.”
The Rock Academy can hold more than 900 students at full capacity, and studies will have to be conducted as the school’s population potentially increases.
Although the schools are working to mitigate some of the congestion, the problem expands beyond the campus traffic, according to Labib Qasem, a senior traffic engineer with the city’s Development Services Department.
During initial phases of the Liberty Station project nearly a decade ago, the city worked with the Corky McMillin Cos., the developer on the former NTC project, to address traffic problems, he said.
As part of the plan, the city added a third lane to northbound Rosecrans Street along Liberty Station, installed new traffic signals and modified old ones. Officials also added segments of median along Rosecrans Street, extended Lanning Street to Harbor Drive and modified the intersection at Lyton Street at Rosecrans Street, Qasem said.
Qasem said the city plans to meet with McMillin officials this month to explore the scope of a study to be conducted in the fall. The study would compare existing traffic and parking conditions to predictions made in the initial traffic plans, he said. McMillin representatives could not be reached for comment.
Many are wondering, however, if the traffic plan is working so far.
“We had a plan that was actually working. Also, the study might give us some ideas of how to take another shot at it,” Qasem said.
As the city works with McMillin to study the problem along Liberty Station, the city will also study traffic along the Rosecrans Street corridor to improve traffic flow, he said. He said operational improvements would be made to the area, including the retiming of traffic lights.
District 2 Councilman Kevin Faulconer’s office has been working to secure funding for the Interstate 8 and Interstate 5 connectors, which would improve traffic circulation in the region, said Matt Awbrey, a representative for Faulconer.
Currently, southbound traffic on the I-5 cannot connect to the I-8 going west and eastbound traffic on the I-8 from Ocean Beach cannot connect to the I-5 northbound. This causes drivers to use alternate street routes and compounds the problem, Qasem said.
The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), in collaboration with the California Department of Transportation, plans to study the traffic on I-8 in January, 2008, Awbrey said. The study will take about two years, he said.
From now until January, Faulconer’s office will work with SANDAG to analyze traffic conditions at the conjunction and the need for connectors in time for the next update of the SANDAG’s Regional Transportation Plan, or RTP, in 2011. The goal is to have the plans and funding in place by then, he said.
SANDAG updates the RTP every four years and is currently accepting public comment on its draft environmental impact report on the 2007 RTP until Oct. 5, according to the SANDAG website. The draft EIR is available at www.sandag.org.
As the city and SANDAG work on the freeway and street traffic problem, Peninsula residents, parents of students and the High School officials will have to work together.
Qasem said the schools can implement strategies to improve flow by spreading out the amount of traffic entering campuses and directing cars to different parking lots rather than having a large concentration in one small lot or area.
“Those are the kind of things that help,” Qasem said. “As the schools get in, the more work gets looked at, and that’s part of the [traffic] evaluation.”