Anne Arundel Council Member Jerry Walker has been “trying to raise visibility” and has engaged Senator Ed Reilly and Anne Arundel County Police and the Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) to look into the traffic problem outside Davidsonville Elementary due to increased student enrollment which is causing a dangerous situation.
The traffic congestion along Central Avenue when parents are dropping off and picking up students has gone on for over a year now and it wasn’t noticed until Council Member Walker stepped in.
From the Arundel Voice article,
“With classroom additions, redistricting and adding kindergarten in the last couple of years, the number of students has dramatically increased,” Walker explained.
Walker described Davidsonville as a more rural community that doesn’t have sidewalks to facilitate students walking to school. In addition, the school has a later dismissal time, which prevents students from getting to after-school activities on time if they take the bus. “So parents are driving them rather than letting them take the bus,” Walker observed. “All of this has built to a point that so many parents are driving.”
The large number of cars lining up off Route 214 before and after school has created a dangerous situation, and Walker is helping increase awareness of the concern with state and local officials.
Parents hoped the state could add a traffic signal at the school, but according to Walker, the situation initially did not meet state guidelines for a new traffic signal. Now Walker and Reilly, along with the Board of Education and the school’s PTA, have requested SHA to conduct a traffic study and recommend a solution. “If we can get a traffic signal installed, then problem solved,” Walker noted. “If not, then we need to look at alternatives.”
A typical traffic study usually takes a couple of months to complete, but Walker said he was able to expedite the request to two weeks because of the urgency…All eyes are now on SHA, waiting for its conclusion and recommendations from the traffic study before any further action can be taken.
To read the full article on traffic concerns surrounding Davidsonville Elementary, click here.
