New traffic pattern at Riverside Intermediate School
by Sara Swanson
Manchester students will be returning to class this week and in addition to the normal nerves and excitement that comes with returning after months away, Riverside Intermediate School has a major change that families who drive their students in will be contending with first thing in the morning.
Over the summer, as part of the bond project, Riverside underwent major renovations, including removing the driveway on the east side of the building and changing traffic patterns for drop-off, pick-up, and busing.
The driveway on Main Street that leads to the small parking lot at the front of the school will now be the bus loop. Only buses will use that entrance for drop-off and pick-up. Families dropping off and picking up students before and after school will use the entrance that previously was designated “for buses only” off of Dutch Drive, which leads to the larger parking lot behind the school. Signage and arrows now direct vehicles in a counterclockwise loop around the parking lot and back out to Dutch Drive. While the parking lots are still connected, the district asks that that connector be used for emergencies only.
This new traffic pattern should help alleviate the previous traffic back-ups on Main Street caused by vehicles waiting to drop off and pick up students.
Families picking up students early or dropping them off late are allowed to use the front parking lot and entrance off of Main as students will need to enter through the front office.
Riverside families aren’t the only ones who are getting used to the new traffic patterns. Those headed to the Manchester Wellness Center and Community Resource Center both also need to use the Dutch Drive entrance.
Manchester Wellness Center members are well practiced at that at this point as they switched over to using it in June when Riverside construction began.
It will most likely be a bigger change for CRC clients and visitors. As the CRC’s space was under construction this summer, they temporarily relocated to Klager Elementary School and operated all summer out of the art room. They moved back to their Riverside location and reopened August 25.
If you stop in at the CRC, not only will you need to enter and exit on Dutch Drive, the door to the CRC has moved! As the CRC door previously opened onto the driveway that ran along the east side of the building and which has been removed, a new door closer to the rear parking lot has been installed. Additionally, a short-term parking area has been marked off in the corner of the parking lot as close to the CRC as possible.
It may take a little while for everyone to get used to the traffic changes, so everyone may need to be patient with each other. And happy first day of school, Riverside students and staff!
You must be logged in to post a comment Login