City of Sugar Land School Studies

The City of Sugar Land needed a traffic report to evaluate existing conditions, develop and analyze alternatives, and provide recommendations for improved operations for three Fort Bend Independent School District (FBISD) schools. The City’s goal was to have data driven solutions to achieve organized flow for pick-up and drop-off and eliminate any queuing on City streets. Buses, pedestrians, bicyclists, and vehicular traffic were all considered in the report. To gain background information for each school, CobbFendley staff met with the school principals to obtain building layouts, arrival and dismissal plans, and document any issues.

A site visit was performed to investigate site conditions, site operations, dwell times for pick-up/drop-off, queue observations, and to review general field information that would impact analysis and operations. This occurred during the school peak periods in the morning and afternoon.

Three alternatives were established for each school for improving operations. This included adding pavement on site, adjusting pick-up and drop-off locations, restriping, adjusting circulation plans, evaluating multi-way stops, and adjusting school zone limits.

Four-hour turning movement counts were performed on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday with school in session for all site driveways and adjacent study intersections during school peak periods (approved by the City).

On-site stacking and on-site parking were also evaluated. The existing and future queues were determined for each alternative for each school. Exhibits showing the maximum vehicle queue lengths for each school driveway were developed and times at which they occur.

CobbFendley provided an estimate for each alternative. This included both design and construction costs. The information was used for comparing each alternative and to determine a preferred alternative for each school. A traffic report was developed to document the findings and was provided to the City and FBISD.