I would like for this to be fixed so the buses can travel on roads better designed to fit their size. I have seen issues where people have had to move their cars due to blocking passage even though they were parking on Town Center to enjoy the city greenway (walk dogs, morning jog, etc.). This community was designed with the school in mind, but the buses have become an unnecessary issue due to them not entering and exiting from Old Monrovia Rd.

Yes, please do something about this issue. We do not need buses speeding through a residential neighborhood like they are.

Thank you for using Huntsville Connect. Unfortunately, this is not an issue under our purview. After much investigation within our City departments, it was determined this is an issue that should be addressed with the City of Huntsville School Superintendent's Office. The phone number for that office is 256-428-6800.

Sincerely,
Your Huntsville Connect Customer Service Team

One year ago a meeting on this subject was held and included HCS Director of Operations, the school Principal, HSV traffic safety officials and residents of the Village of Providence (VoP). All agreed on a solution that would lead to _all_ school traffic, both buses and cars, to enter and exit the school at the Old Monrovia Rd traffic light.

Engineering drawings were to be produced and reviewed 2 months later by all interested parties. Work was expected be completed during the HCS Christmas break. Months later this work was rescheduled for the summer break of 2015.

The concerns that I have are: 1) no follow-up meeting was ever held to review engineering drawings, and 2) when HCS officials stated that they would proceed to resolve the problems without the meeting, they implied that they went back to square one and possibly arrived at a different solution.

When I asked for clarification and that VoP residents should be made fully aware of the proposed solution, I received no reply.

Old Monrovia Rd was widened from 2 to 5 lanes to accommodate _all_ Providence School traffic. Yet _all_ bus traffic, HCS support vehicles, and 60-80 cars each day use the VoP as their Providence School throughway.

Please encourage HCS to communicate their proposed solution to those that will be affected by it (i.e. residents of the VoP). I asked them to do so before the summer break (so the work would not be delayed), but again received no reply.

The June 2014 engineering drawings were never made available to VoP residents. But the discussions at that time indicated that work would be coordinated with the City of Huntsville (HSV) because it would likely require some work at the HSV traffic light intersection on Old Monrovia Rd., adjacent to Providence School.

So it seems this _would_ have some HSV involvement.

Please consider this issue OPEN until resolved by HSV schools instructing all school traffic, including busses, to enter/exit Providence School via Old Monrovia and enforcing it. This will presumably require the City (street alterations/signage) and HSV Schools cooperation and action to resolve, so the Mayor's Office should retain oversight.
It requires solution before someone gets hurt and further HPD resources are expended to enforce the law. The school grounds were donated by the VoP developers with no intention of the VoP being a thoroughfare for the school traffic.
We in the VoP want to help in any way, but we must be afforded information access as requested in above messages to be integrated. We want the proposed solution to be the final resolution, but we don't know what that is.
Kindly advise us.

Further investigation is underway and contact of Huntsville City School System is being made. Thank you, Your Huntsville Connect Customer Service Team

“City of Huntsville has contacted the School District regarding the buses complying with the existing traffic circulation plan. As well, the District is currently undertaking a Traffic Study to propose improvements to Providence School’s traffic circulation and storage. This will also include all necessary traffic signing.”

If you think it would help, feel free to include some of what I said in my comment about the Village of Providence and school traffic…I’m just not sure it’s necessary, and I certainly don’t want to be adversarial in my response.

The bottom line is that there isn’t anything the City can do about the School’s traffic circulation, other than reviewing and commenting on the ongoing Traffic Study, and bus compliance is entirely up to the District.

Thanks,
Dan

L. DAN SANDERS, P.E.
Interim Director
Traffic Engineering
City of Huntsville

256-650-4788 (P)
256-650-4789 (F)
lewis.sanders@huntsvilleal.gov
www.huntsvilleal.gov