Published: December 05, 2007 02:23 am      

WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM: Speed limit near Roy-Hart Elementary may drop

GASPORT — A drive on Route 31 in Gasport may take a little longer, if school traffic concerns are addressed.

The route, Rochester Road, goes by Royalton-Hartland Elementary School, 4500 Orchard Place. At a Nov. 29 school board meeting, the board announced that the district sent a request to the state Department of Transportation to lower the speed limit. Currently the limit is 55 mph. The change, if approved, will take some time. The department sent a letter back to the district confirming it had received the request.

“They look at traffic patterns, traffic count, history and other things,” said Roy-Hart Superintendent Paul Bona. “This is a formula they use to determine if the speed should be lowered.”

The elementary school has about 550 students; this is an enrollment increase over previous years, because of the addition of universal pre-kindergarten. There are four classes, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. Bona said the school wasn’t the only reason the limit should be lowered: The surrounding area has also seen an increase in traffic.

“There has been an increase of commercial business at that point, and several small businesses,” he said. “Hopefully, they will lower it to 45 mph, if not lower.”

Previous attempts to have the limit lowered were unsuccessful. Bona said the district made the request after a few changes took place.

“Through reconfiguring the district and looking at enrollment, we realized there would be more transportation,” he said. “This is something that has come up before; it is not new. Based on events that have happened, hopefully they’ll see the need to reduce the speed limit.”

There aren’t any students being picked up or dropped off near Route 31; a driver who wants to park or drive near the school has to go down Orchard Place, which has a speed limit of 30 mph.

The reduced speed limit was brought up during Roy-Hart’s proposed facilities project. The project called for a Orleans/Niagara BOCES wing to be built on the school. Increased traffic flow around the school has been a concern of some residents.

“Orchard Place and Emerson Place border the school on two sides,” said Ron Romanowski of Gasport at the Nov. 29 board meeting. “We are talking about additional busing. Is there a plan to remediate that?”

Bona said the vehicles that would bring the BOCES students would not be buses, but rather vans and smaller buses.

Contact reporter Joe Olenick

at 439-9222, ext. 6241.