Traffic outside Parkway Elementary School seems to have been slowed to a crawl once and for all.
Dozens of bright-orange, plastic posts have been bolted to the asphalt to narrow the roadway and slow down drivers in the school zone.
The so-called traffic delineators, installed in late March, complement speed humps and a speed reader board that were placed last fall, and represent the culmination of years of complaints from members of the school community who were worried about drivers speeding along Kinney Avenue.
Mark Ludington, who regularly walks his daughter, Jazmyn, to kindergarten at Parkway, said he’s been impressed so far by the traffic-calming measures and cross-walk improvements.
“It’s really nice to have that buffer zone away from traffic, so if (a child) did go a little too far or you get a bunch of people wanting to cross at the same time, it gives a little bit of a safety area,” he said.
“And it totally herds the cars single-file and (drivers) are more focused in between the cones.”
Principal Kelly Jones said he has also noticed motorists seem more attentive.
“In the first week, especially with it being new, I’ve noticed a lot of people slowing down,” he said.
“Even moreso than with the speed humps and speed reader board, so I think it certainly has had a good effect,” he said.
“I think people really have to pay attention when they drive through here now.”
The speed humps and traffic delineators were installed by the City of Penticton, which also helped the school’s parent advisory committee purchase the speed reader board.
Jones said the PAC was “instrumental in meeting with the city and meeting with the community just expressing the need for something.”
The principal said he’s also had conversations with colleagues at other schools who are interested in finding out how they can convince city hall to fund similar improvements at their facilities. City spokeswoman Simone Blais said the final bill for the work at Parkway tallied $24,643, and council has roughly the same amount of money set aside for similar work at other schools.
