City to help Charter Academy with traffic issues

COEUR d’ALENE — Parents at a charter school in Coeur d’Alene need help following traffic rules.

That is why Coeur d’Alene Charter Academy has asked the city of Coeur d’Alene for permission to hire a traffic control worker to keep traffic flowing safely on a city street, and to help parents who drop off and pick up their students at the school follow guidelines.

The Coeur d’Alene public works committee gave Charter Academy, located off Kathleen Avenue, the go-ahead Monday to hire a contractor to ensure motorists during peak hours — in the morning and after school — are following procedures to prevent accidents and to keep traffic on north Duncan Drive and north Building Center Drive flowing smoothly.

Part of the problem, said Coeur d’Alene’s city engineer Chris Bosley, arises when drivers — after dropping off or picking up students — attempt to turn left onto southbound Building Center Drive. The turn is a choke point that many parents try to avoid. Instead of heading south, motorists turn north and then attempt to make a U-turn, or they use private driveways and roads to turn around, adding to the confusion and congestion.

“You can’t get on Duncan Drive very easily,” Bosley told the committee. “So parents typically do not follow the rules that Charter has given them.”

Other parents, instead of dropping off or picking up students on Duncan Drive — a safer, one-way street that circles past Charter’s high school — illegally drop off or pick up students along the busier and congested north Building Center Drive.

“And they pull a U-turn, or they pull into someone else’s driveway,” Bosley said. “The businesses around there don’t like it. They have been struggling with this a long time.”

The city has given Charter a month to use a contracted flagger at the intersection of Duncan and Building Center in an effort to ease congestion.

The city will not assume liability once the temporary agreement with Charter is enacted and the latest agreement does not set a precedent, Bosley told the committee — made up of three City Council members.

“We’re just sitting back and watching to see if any red flags go up,” Bosley said.

Even if it did give other schools the idea to follow suit, council member Dan English said, it would essentially have the effect of keeping students safe.

If the temporary measure works, it may be used long-term. The school must hire and be responsible for the contractor.

“It’s an ongoing problem,” council member Kiki Miller said. “It’s not going away any time soon.”