Fort Wayne Community Schools, Middle School Parent Pickup Lanes

Over the past several years, the Fort Wayne Community School System had seen an increase in traffic through several of their middle school parent pick-up and drop-off zones – including Kekionga, Lane, and Shawnee. This additional traffic was not only creating safety concerns for pedestrians but also adding congestion within the school parking lots and creating traffic hazards on several of the main thoroughfares adjacent to each school.

JPR’s team was tasked with improving bus and car navigation, pedestrian flow, and drop-off / pick-up logistics while ultimately reducing pedestrian and vehicle conflicts and improving the safety of students, staff, and visitors. Due to existing conflicts between traffic flows, the three middle schools all had a great need for student drop-off / pick-up areas that reduced the overlap with bus traffic and were more isolated from visitor and staff parking.  

Additionally, concern over the existing vehicular congestion on the connecting public roadways during peak school hours warranted the need for improved site mobility. Several site designs were explored that provided a more efficient and safer placement of the drop-off / pick-up lanes to provide the least amount of conflict with other modes of traffic. This also reduced the overall conflicts to pedestrian flow. In addition, each design thoroughly examined impacts on stormwater and included upgrades to the school’s stormwater system to maximize the existing sites’ ability to retain and infiltrate runoff.