Going With the Flow: Identifying and Designing Traffic Patterns

Where traffic flows, people go. That’s precisely the problem at a school with unsafe traffic patterns.

Traffic flow is different at every school. How many buses enter or exit the site at a single time? How many cars? Are buses and cars entering, parking, and exiting in any of the same places? Where do students and parents walk? Is anyone directing traffic? When it comes to school traffic design, there is no one-size-fits-all approach.

All variables need to be evaluated to provide a customized design that gives students a safe way to start and end their school day. Through collaboration between designers, the district’s administrators, principals, staff (notably a transportation department), and the community, a traffic pattern design that is efficient, safe, and unique to the school is achievable.

Identifying Pre-Existing Patterns

The process begins with information gathering. As designers, we need to know how the school site is accessed and used. How many students ride the bus versus those who are dropped off? Do students walk to school? How many buses enter/exit, and at what times? At day’s end, are staff dismissing each student as their parent/guardian arrives? Or do parents/guardians park and walk into the school? A meeting with the district’s administrative staff and facilities management team helps us understand traffic patterns, arrival/dismissal timing, and pedestrian circulation. The staff members who conduct the daily drop-off and pick-up operations are often a strong source for this insight as well.

As design consultants, we can perform traffic flow observation studies at the onset of projects to gather data and diagnose problems. Drones are used to observe vehicle staging and traffic circulations from above. This bird’s-eye view gives us the full picture, provides critical pieces of information like passenger vehicle counts, and highlights issues such as poor interior site bus routing.

Designing Safe, Effective Patterns

While no two schools (nor their traffic pattern design solutions) are the same, some of the general design principles are:

Buses and vehicles are best kept separate. With school bus ridership seemingly on the decline and more families opting to drive children to school, drop-off zone safety has become paramount.

Passenger vehicle access should be well defined (often a designated passenger drop-off/pick-up lane separate from buses and parking lots), easy to get in and out of quickly, and contain adequate space for on-campus queuing.

School traffic circulation is not complete without pedestrian circulation design. Defined pedestrian pathways can guide students in a clear, safe direction, particularly away from navigating between parked buses where many accidents occur. Barriers, such as fencing or landscaping, between parking lots and vehicular loops can limit the number of pedestrians crossing in front of moving vehicles. Sidewalks need to be wide enough to accommodate the identified volume of pedestrians and provide the most direct path to the final destination.

Furthermore, pedestrian pathways strategically placed between student parking areas and building entrances can reduce confusion and enhance pedestrian safety during arrival and dismissal times.

Additional safety-centric design elements include separating the student and staff entrances and replacing stairs with ADA-accessible ramps.

In a world where we seem to be in a constant state of hurry, we must prioritize giving students a safe way to start and end their school day. A traffic circulation design that addresses your school’s unique variables is a good place to start. With proper planning, design, and a trusted consultant, you can help students go with the (proper) traffic flow.