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Residents, county and school officials seek fixes for pickup congestion at 130 Ninth Street
Summary
Neighbors urged Clark County and school officials to address persistent lane blockages and pickup congestion in front of a school on 130 Ninth Street; county engineers said on‑site circulation and early queuing by parents are the main causes.
Residents told county traffic staff that a right‑lane queuing and parking problem during school pickup is causing sustained lane blockages and safety concerns in front of a local school on 130 Ninth Street. David Jardine, Clark County traffic engineering section manager, said field observations showed parents arriving early, filling the curb lane and not keeping circulation moving, which creates long queues through the signal.
Jardine said the county has tried a mix of measures: outreach (flyers for parents), no‑parking signs based on the Revised Code of Washington stopping/standing rules, coordination with the sheriff’s office for limited enforcement, and minor signal timing adjustments intended to ease queues in other directions. He said the core challenge is on‑site circulation at the school — parents stopping in the curb lane and not using on‑site queuing or alternative parking areas — and that the county can recommend changes but the school must adopt operational changes for pickup/drop‑off to improve flow.
Residents said enforcement is inconsistent and that some parents block the lane for 20–30 minutes during pickup. A neighborhood program coordinator said an outreach card distributed to residents was intended to allow residents and businesses to show proof of residence to flaggers during large events; some attendees said they had not seen the cards or that enforcement had been inconsistent when event flaggers were present.
Jardine recommended continued coordination among the county, the sheriff’s office and the school and said that county staff will pursue options including targeted enforcement at the start of the school year, continued outreach to parents (flyers and notices) and potential on‑site circulation changes the school could make; he noted that certain striping or lane changes had been considered but that removing a lane entirely can worsen queues if site circulation is not resolved.
Ending: county staff asked residents to continue submitting problem locations and to work with the school and neighborhood association so county engineers can analyze traffic counts and propose targeted remedies as part of routine traffic engineering work and the new neighborhood traffic management program.
