Guilford County Schools outlines plan to reconfigure Stokesdale Elementary car‑rider line; residents press for quicker action

Mike Ritchie, assistant superintendent for school safety and emergency management for Guilford County Schools, told the Stokesdale Town Council on that the district has a DOT‑commissioned traffic study recommending on‑site changes to the Stokesdale Elementary car‑rider line aimed at improving safety and reducing queuing onto 158 and neighborhood streets.

Ritchie said the study—conducted for the North Carolina Department of Transportation—recommends adding two lanes of on‑site "stacking" (often described in the presentation as "snakes") to increase capacity and separate bus and car flows. "That line would add somewhere in the realm of 80 cars into the line," Ritchie said, and the school will use part of bond funds passed two years ago to pay for the on‑site concrete, striping and lane work. He emphasized that any changes in state‑maintained roadways, including signal work and driveway geometry, must be approved and constructed by NCDOT.

The proposal would move the car drop‑off to a new front of the building, reassign the current drop‑off to bus use and add coordinated traffic signals at the intersection approaches. Ritchie said the project is in the Municipal and School Transportation Assistance Program queue at NCDOT and that DOT has begun clearing funds for projects, but he stopped short of giving a firm start date: "I'm not 100% sure. We're meeting with DOT now on three projects that are in the queue," he said.

Residents at the meeting said the problem is urgent. Holly Reed, who lives on Athens Road, pressed the school and council about cars that back up past the school onto neighborhood roads and asked whether the recommended changes would reduce that spillover. "It doesn't sound to me like we're just going to flip flop the bus circle with the car rider line," she said, asking whether the plan was based on observations during drop‑off and pick‑up times. Eileen Berry asked whether the town or school could pay for a temporary officer to direct traffic; Ritchie estimated directed enforcement at roughly $600 per day.

Council members pressed staff about how the town could help secure a quicker DOT timeline. One councilor moved—and the council approved—a request to have the town administrator compose a letter to Senator Phil Berger and Representative John Blust outlining the problem and asking them to advocate with NCDOT to advance the project with the goal of starting construction next summer if possible; the motion was amended to also add the DOT board chair as a recipient.

Why it matters: Residents described long backups that affect neighborhood access and driver safety, and the school says the proposed on‑site changes will improve safety but cannot by themselves eliminate off‑site queuing without NCDOT's roadway and signal work. The council has asked staff to draft the letter to state officials and to keep pursuing DOT coordination; no construction contract was approved at the meeting.

What happens next: Council asked staff and the school to continue coordination with NCDOT and to provide additional timeline and engineering follow‑up. Several residents urged temporary enforcement until any changes are completed; council members said they will explore short‑term spot enforcement with county law enforcement while pursuing the letter to state representatives.