Introducing a new elementary school into a new location is bound to introduce more traffic. That’s inevitable. Rachel Carson Elementary School’s site provided both challenges and opportunities with regard to handling parking and traffic. It was designed on a smaller plot of land than normally used for an elementary school. Due to that challenge and the proximity of the school to Inglewood Junior High, the design features a shared bus lane that enters through Inglewood’s property, and comes into the back of the school. Most students will take the bus, and this bus traffic will not affect neighbors on 244th Avenue N.E.
Some parents will prefer to drive their students. It will be far lower traffic flow than the open house held on Thursday – the first chance for all of the families with students attending this school to see the new building. At that special event, all parents drove and tried to park in the school parking lot, although some did realize that they could park at Inglewood. Similarly, on the first day of school, some parents who wanted to attend a PTSA coffee parked at Inglewood. There will not be any further special events for parents during the daytime and, in the future, attendees at evening events will be encouraged to park at Inglewood. The two schools will coordinate to ensure that both schools do not schedule special events at the same time. Additionally, some Carson staff will park at Inglewood during the school day.
I expect the school’s neighbors off of 244th to see the traffic situation improve as parents begin to learn the traffic and parking situation at this new school. We are closely monitoring the situation and coordinating with the city.
– Forrest Miller
Director of Support Services, Lake Washington School District