Brentsville District School Board member Gil Trenum said the school division prefers implementing a new traffic pattern at Patriot High School before accepting county funds to build a new access lane for student drivers.
According to Trenum, staff at Prince William County Schools were aware that traffic was bottlenecking around Kettle Run Road during peak traffic times of morning drop-off and afternoon dismissal, leading to traffic congestion on Vint Hill Road. Athough Brentsville Supervisor Wally Covington (R) offered TRIP (Transportation Road Improvement Program) funds to build a new access lane to the school, the school division rejected that funding.
Trenum said the school division wanted to first try out their own solution before having to create a new lane, which would cost the taxpayers $135,000 in TRIP funds. He was also concerned that extending a turn lane from Vint Hill Road toward Kettle Run Road might cause more traffic problems on Vint Hill.
Trenum explained that Patriot High School had recently put in place a plan to remedy the traffic situation, which he felt was already showing signs of success. According to their plan, the first entrance is designated for drivers, while the second entrance is designated as a drop-off zone.
“It seems to work really well. It split the traffic stream and got rid of the bottlenecking,” he said.
He explained that when he spoke to staff about whether they should build a new access lane, they instead decided to try out their own patterns, thinking, “this is something we can do immediately,” said Trenum.
All vehicles had previously entered Patriot’s campus via the first entrance, located closer to Vint Hill Road. The second entrance, which is farther down Kettle Run Road, was primarily used as an entrance to T. Clay Woods Elementary School, although it also connected to the high school parking lots.
Trenum was responding to an inquiry regarding a press release distributed last week by Covington’s office, entitled, “School Staff Nixes Patriot’s Gridlock Fix.” In the press release, Covington said he was in favor of implementing the recommendation of the county transportation department to create a separate parking lot entrance at Patriot by extending the eastbound turn lane of Vint Hill.
Covington said the new entrance road would be exclusively for student drivers.
“This would help facilitate the flow of drivers continuing on Vint Hill or turning left onto Sudley Manor and prevent commuters from getting caught up in school traffic,” the statement said.
Covington said the school division’s recommendations do not go far enough to solve the traffic problems.
“In my opinion, forcing the parents to use the elementary entrance does not remedy the situation,” said Covington. “Next year, Patriot will be over capacity and will have a full senior class for the first time, meaning additional student drivers.”
He said that creating a new lane would lead to substantial reduction in traffic with no impact on the elementary school, whereas the school division’s solution would affect T. Clay Woods and those utilizing Schaeffer Lane. He also hoped the school division would follow the recommendation of county transportation planners, saying, “I have confidence in the recommendations of the county transportation planners and I am disappointed their recommendations were dismissed.”
Trenum said the school division’s plan is a first step, and if it does not prove successful, other options could then be considered. He said the school division kept in contact with the county transportation staff and Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) in making their decision.
Dave Cline, associate superintendent for finance and support services, agreed with Trenum in that attempting to manage traffic patterns within the confines of the school would be preferable to immediately building a new entrance.
Cline said that “it is not unusual” for there to be traffic congestion at the site of a new high school and that there had been similar problems after Battlefield High School opened in Haymarket.
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