Daisy Elementary opened the school year with a new entrance on Sequoyah Road, and the Soddy-Daisy Police Department continues to have issues with drivers speeding through the newly extended school zone.
Daisy is one of three schools on Sequoyah Road, including Sequoyah Vocational Technical School and Soddy-Daisy High School, with which DES previously shared an entrance. In the past the road had two separate school zones, which were combined this year into one mile-long zone.
Despite lights indicating the start and stop of the zone at both ends, and several signs posted along the mile-long stretch, people are still accustomed to increasing their speed in the middle of the two zones, on the section of roadway near Soddy-Daisy Healthcare where the new entrance to DES is located, said Jeff Gann, acting chief of the Soddy-Daisy Police Department.
“We’re trying to get the community aware that it’s a 1-mile-radius school zone now,” he said. “We’re burning extra resources putting officers in just that one stretch.”
The Soddy-Daisy City Commission is considering purchasing more flashing lights to make drivers more aware of the change.
“Obviously we are in need of some more flashing lights on that stretch,” said Gann. “As to where that money should come from, I don’t have the answer.”
He said drivers on Sequoyah need to be aware that from 6:30-9:30 a.m. and 1:30-4:30 p.m. on school days, the road’s speed limit drops from 45 to 25 mph within the school zone.
One of the main purposes of the new entrance was to alleviate the standstill traffic that occurred with the school’s former pickup route, which went through the parking lot of Soddy-Daisy High School.
“It has improved the flow of students both arriving and dismissing,” said Daisy Elementary Principal Samantha Walter of the new entrance.
While the new DES access point has eased traffic on the properties of DES and SDHS, it has raised a new traffic issue on Sequoyah Road.
Since school began, Gann said traffic backups have occurred on Sequoyah near the new entrance when school lets out. He said this occurs when the school staff doesn’t raise the gate, installed at the entrance to separate the playground from the roadway, in a timely manner.
“Parents will start to line up hours before school lets out, causing Sequoyah to completely shut down,” said Gann.
Still, for safety reasons, he said he supports the school’s use of the gate, in the absence of a fence that would serve to separate the playground from the roadway of the new entrance.
Walter said the gate is opened for arrivals from 7:30-8:15 a.m. and for dismissals starting at 2:30 p.m., when all students are off the playground and 45 minutes before school is dismissed.
“Parents in the past have lined up as early as 1 or 1:30,” she said, adding that while this is no longer possible (on school property), 45 minutes gives parents plenty of time to line up and wait for students to be dismissed at 3:15.
Email Emily Crisman at ecrisman@timesfreepress.com.