Parents continued to adjust to the new traffic plan at Barrington High School on Thursday morning, Sept. 3. 

Cars and trucks carrying students rolled along Lincoln Avenue, pulled into the area that had previously been the bus lane, and idled for a moment or two as the students exited onto the sidewalk and made their way to the school. 

Buses, meanwhile, pulled into the circular driveway in front of the building.

School officials announced the new BHS traffic plan on Tuesday afternoon. Here are the details:

• Parents dropping off children or picking up children will NOT be allowed onto the BHS campus or parking lots.

• Parents dropping off children or picking up children will use the north side (school side) of Lincoln Avenue, from County Road to Upland Road including the new bus lane cutouts. 

• All buses will drop off and pick up from the semi-circle driveway in front of the school. They will enter and leave in a counterclockwise direction. 

• No one will be allowed to park, stand, or stop on the south side (tennis court side) of Lincoln Avenue.

• Parents dropping off children or picking up children can utilize Gourley Memorial Field on Upland Way as a drop off or pick up location. Children can safely walk along the path to the school.

• As always, eligible students can ride the town provided school buses. We ask all parent who drop off and pick up to considerer carpooling to reduce the congestion at the high school.

• The Barrington Police Department will have officers at the high school to assist with the transition.

“As always, we ask people to be respectful to their neighbors who live in the immediate area of BHS,” Barrington Police Chief Michael Correia wrote in a message to the Barrington Times. 

On Thursday morning, eight Barrington Police officers were stationed on the roads around the high school. 

Traffic last week

A week ago — on Thursday afternoon, Aug. 27 — a steady stream of Barrington High School students eager to escape the 85-degree classrooms exited the building only to be greeted by gridlock. Cars and trucks and buses and police cruisers covered the roads and parking lots around the high school and created a traffic standstill. 

Two lanes of vehicles idled in between two rows of parked car in the student lot, as parents waited for their children. Those vehicles blocked in the students who had parked in the first two rows of the student lot — the young drivers loaded into their vehicles and began inching and edging their vehicles along while trying to find room to maneuver; horns blared; engines raced. 

More than a half-dozen police officers tried to direct the mass of vehicles, first into the student lot for pick-up, and then out of it. 

“It was gridlock,” said Barrington Police Chief Michael Correia on Friday morning. 

“We’re recognizing that there’s a problem.”

Chief Correia said he was scheduled to meet with school officials and the construction team on Monday, Aug. 31 — that meeting led to the creation of the new traffic plan. 

Construction at the high school had played a factor in the congestion. The work — part of a four-school, $250 million project — reduced the number of parking spaces in front of the high school.

Officials created a plan in advance of the start of school and shared it with students’ families, but it only took a couple days to realize changes were needed, said police. 

Manpower

Chief Correia said the police department dedicated at least a half-dozen detail police officers to help with the traffic at the high school, but acknowledged that the staffing level would be reduced. 

“What we’re doing now isn’t work,” Chief said on Friday. “That is not sustainable.”

According to Chief Correia, the three other Barrington schools under construction (Primrose Hill School, Nayatt School, and Sowams School) have not experienced the same traffic challenges to start the school year. 

“We think the other schools are fine,” he said. 

The chief added that vehicle traffic at the schools tends to be worse at the start of every school year, but he acknowledged that this year’s situation at the high school is particularly difficult.