Parents and city weigh changes after East Elementary pickup becomes single-file

A Breckenridge parent told the City Council she spent about 1 hour and 20 minutes in the new East Elementary afternoon pickup line and urged the city to address safety and congestion concerns. Jacqueline Morehart, a parent and regular carpool driver, spoke during the council's open forum and said the change from multiple loading lanes to a single-file route lengthened pickup time and blocked local driveways. The parent said the new method routes cars off Walker Street, down to Lindsay behind the playground and around an industrial loop where parents line up along the east side of the school, and that big trucks use the same industrial access. She told the council, "it took me an hour and 20 minutes to pick up my son today with the new method" and that she saw about "40-something cars in line on Walker Street." City Manager Cynthia (City Manager) told the council the city met with Breckenridge Independent School District officials, paid for a traffic-control study and that engineers presented two options to the school board, which picked one. She said the city has begun installing signage, ordered pavement-marking work and will pay for new pavement markings because the existing layout "is not according to the MUTCD" (Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices). Sage (engineer) and the police chief described field observations. Sage said the consulting firm Dunaway and Associates monitored pickup and drop-off and proposed patterns "in accordance with the MUTCD." The police chief said officers were present on the first day to move vehicles and enforce the new pattern; he noted buses had trouble entering the loop in the morning but were able to in the afternoon. Chief said officers would continue enforcement during the first weeks while the pattern is adopted. City staff said the chosen plan converts Hartford to one-way during dismissal, reconfigures Elmhurst one-way direction in the front of the school, and uses the industrial loop for a longer stack so fewer cars block local driveways. Staff emphasized the change was intended to reduce blocking of residential driveways that occurred previously when stacking grew to two or three lanes. City staff described this as an operating partnership with BISD and said they will monitor and adjust signage or markings as needed. "If there's any adjustments that need to be made, they can consider it, and the parties can then work together and come up with a good solution," Sage said. The city will return the traffic engineer if ongoing adjustments are required. Council members did not take formal action during the meeting; staff framed the item as a progress report and expected additional monitoring and potential adjustments in the coming days. Community members and officials should expect continued enforcement, added signage and pavement marking work as the city and BISD implement the option the district selected. Staff said communication to parents and repeated on-site enforcement will be the primary near-term steps to reduce delays.