Elementary School Traffic and Safety Study
About this project
The areas around elementary schools can get busy, especially during the hours when children are being dropped off and picked up. The high volumes of pedestrians and drivers during these peak hours can potentially create safety issues and conflicts between road users.
To help keep everyone using the roads around elementary schools safe during the busy periods of the school day, the City undertook the Burnaby Elementary School Traffic and Safety Study in 2022. This study reviewed existing traffic conditions and identified improvement measures to address safety and traffic operational concerns near each of Burnaby’s elementary schools. Our review included 43 elementary schools (41 public and 2 private). The study included on-site observations and a review of current traffic volumes and historical ICBC collision data to help understand existing vehicle and pedestrian movement patterns, the “pain points” for potential conflicts and how the City can use proven speed and traffic management measures to improve safety for all road users.
This study is aligned with Council-adopted policies, plans, and strategies within Connecting Burnaby, Burnaby Transportation Plan and the City’s Climate Action Framework.
Public engagement
As part of this study, the project team engaged with school principals, Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) members and school crossing guards at each elementary school in the fall/winter of 2022 to better understand the school area’s existing challenges, and to identify opportunities for improvements. The feedback we received helped the project team develop short- and long-term recommendations to improve traffic operations and safety.
Recommendations
After the study was completed, the project team analyzed the technical data and public feedback we received and identified several potential mitigation measures to improve school safety and operations. These recommendations align with the City’s Traffic and Speed Management Policy and will help address the unique issues for each elementary school. An overview of the transportation improvement measures our study recommends is provided in the following table.
| Improvement measures | Examples |
|---|---|
| New pedestrian crossings | New crossing opportunities at select intersections and locations |
| Existing pedestrian crossing improvements | Crosswalk restriping, crosswalk upgrades, curb letdowns, new signalization, signal timing changes, and Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB) sequence updates |
| Traffic calming | Raised crosswalks, curb extension locations, speed humps, and speed reader boards |
| Sidewalk/roadway improvements | Improving the condition of existing sidewalks and roadways |
| Streetlighting | Adding new streetlights in locations our technical analysis identified as able to improve safety |
| Signage | Standardizing and designating pick-up/drop-off (PUDO) locations, signage location changes, new traffic operation signs, and new curbside regulations |
| Other | Adding flexible poles along curbs, trimming trees and shrubs to improve sightlines, and introducing mountable roundabouts |
Implementation
Our staff analyzed ICBC’s historic collision data near each elementary school to prioritize the schools that need improvements the most. Our implementation timeline has 5 phases, scheduling the schools with the greatest need for safety improvements first. Each phase includes about 10 elementary schools and you can find the specifics of the improvements we’re recommending for each individual school in our Recommended Improvement Summary. Funding for short- and long-term improvements in all phases is included in Burnaby’s 5-year transportation capital plan program. The recommended improvements will be completed on a rolling basis.
What's happening now?
During summer 2023, we completed Phase 1 short-term improvements at the top 10 priority elementary schools, using our City resources for in-house design and construction. We’re currently developing the detailed designs for Phase 1’s long-term improvement, which are planned to be implemented in 2024 and 2025. City staff are currently reviewing and finalizing the design for the remaining phases. The short-term improvements for the schools slated for Phase 2-5 will be installed throughout 2024.
Once we’ve implemented all the improvements in all 5 phases, we’ll continue to monitor their impacts, and make modifications or install additional improvements to improve safety if necessary.
A summary of the study and recommendations was provided to city’s Transportation Committee on November 22, 2023. You can find more details in the Transportation Committee Report.