MJUSD, Edwards: safer school routes coming this year

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EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. --  With the start of a new school year, Edwards Air Force Base and the Mojave Joint Unified School District are working together to make getting to school safer for our kids, more comfortable for their parents, and more predictable for the rest of the base population. 

This year, the MJUSD and the Edwards Traffic Safety Working Group have created a "Safe Routes to School" map which is available at the MJUSD website and which will be distributed to all students and parents in their "First Day of School" packets. All students are expected to follow these routes, and all parents are requested to review the map, understand the implications for their children, and encourage their use. 

"These maps will help us better identify necessary physical improvements and prioritize and articulate ongoing traffic and pedestrian safety improvements," explained Civil Engineer Ralph Cantrell. "We hope to receive feedback from users that will alert us to problems and improvement needs." 

Primary among the needed changes identified by the team was the closure of the Forbes parking lot. 

"We've never been happy with that parking lot arrangement," said MJUSD Director of Transportation and Safety Jeremy Job. "Working with the base we were able to identify an alternative way to better meet our requirements for a safe and convenient drop-off system." 

This school year, children must be dropped-off at the curb directly in front of Branch Elementary school, and buses will use a dedicated drop-off location on Bailey just east of the school. 

"The width of Bailey allowed us a great opportunity to improve safety here by allowing us to provide bike lanes and the dedicated bus drop-off," said TSWG Chairman Brian Sponsler.  "We are confident that the Bailey parking lot drop-off will work much better than the old Forbes lot while still keeping Bailey clear of unnecessary congestion."

However, residents of Mesquite Meadows must be advised that the current mid-block crosswalk fronting Branch school will be eliminated. Children exiting from Mesquite Meadows will need to walk to Forbes and cross at Bailey at its intersection with Forbes. 

"We realize this will lengthen the walk of some children from Mesquite Meadows," said Job. "But the type of pedestrian and vehicular mixture at this crosswalk is exactly what we need to eliminate to keep the kids safe. We're counting on parents to teach their kids to cross with the crossing guard." 

Crosswalk changes are also coming to Forbes Avenue, with the elimination of the mid-block crosswalk between Mesquite Meadows and Mountain View, and the omission of the crosswalk at Forbes and Blackbird from the Safe Routes Map. 

Even though the South Forbes crossing will be left in place, parents are requested to ask their children to use the staffed crossing at Bailey instead. 

"We just don't want children using the South Forbes crossing," said Job. "We want all the crossings to occur at the safer, staffed crossing at Bailey." 

Forbes Boulevard will be narrowed to slow traffic and the length of the Forbes school zone will be reduced. Both steps are efforts to improve the voluntary compliance rate of base drivers. "The narrower lanes should remind you to take your foot off the gas," Sponsler remarked. 

Of course, if voluntary compliance doesn't work, Security Forces will be distributing tickets. 

"We can't ticket everybody," said TSWG member Robert Tucker of Security Forces. "But we can ticket you - and we will, especially if you speed in that school zone." 

Other improvements, including to signage and lighting are on the way for fuller implementation later in the school year, and ongoing safety reviews will continue as the base and school work together to improve base safety. 

Click here for Map 1 and Map 2.