Santa Clarita Heads Back To School

Posted by: KHTS FM 98.1 & AM 1220 in Santa Clarita News August 13, 2008 - 3:30 pm 0 113 Views

Adjustment period begins for renewed traffic congestion.

[view:node_ad=5]By tomorrow, every pre-college school in Santa Clarita will be back in session. And, with a new year of learning comes a new year of traffic problems around schools, as parents and guardians hustle to drop off students in the morning, and pick them up again in the afternoon.

“If you live around a school, be patient,” says Detective Robert Smoldt, who is a traffic investigator with the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s station.

Many older schools are nestled amongst quite residential neighborhoods, and the streets regularly transform into a sea of cars during the 20 minute window before and after school. Smaller streets and low-volume traffic patterns magnify the problem.

Even the newer schools have their share of traffic problems. Valencia Blvd is notoriously gridlocked in Westridge, as Rancho Pico Jr. High and West Ranch High School start each day within a few minutes of each other.

In this case, the traffic causes problems for the entire community because Valencia Blvd is the only artery in and out of Westridge. Also, motorists from all over western Valencia use the Valencia Blvd on-ramp to the I-5 freeway, which sits right at the mouth of the traffic congested area.

So while the traffic will stick around throughout the school year, Detective Smoldt says that the beginning of school is always the toughest.

“It usually takes about two weeks for people to adjust to the increased traffic,” he said.

One way to ease your commute is to leave a few minutes early for the next few weeks, until things calm down.

If you are uncertain about when schools in your area start up, the dates are listed below:

Schools that went back today, Wednesday, August 13th: