Prosper Independent School District is one of the fastest growing districts in Texas with over 28,000 students and more expected to enroll in the coming years. With such a substantial population comes substantial congestion. With almost 4,000 students arriving at Prosper High School daily means that entrances and exits around the school are filled with traffic.
“We’re only maybe seven minutes away, but it’s ridiculous,” Ortiz said. “It’ll take us at least 25 minutes to get to the school, through all the traffic, especially when you turn into the school. (It) takes forever to do that.”
Others like junior Ally Moore have had to adapt their driving routine to combat the overflowing exits once school ends.
“My parents would drive me in the first half of the school year in my sophomore year,” Moore said. “They would pick me up around 4:40 so they would also avoid the traffic.”
As a result, school administrators and the police department have teamed up to create an improved traffic layout that incorporates more guides.
“We have certain areas of the parking lot blocked off so that it’s one-way traffic, and we don’t have cars going every which direction,” assistant principal Paige Trujillo said. “In the mornings, it’s safe for kids to exit and walk into the building.”
She further details the actions taken for one particular side of the school – the auditorium.
“We do cones in dismissal to make sure people don’t turn into each other,” Trujillo said. “The auditorium in the arena side (is) blocked so that you can’t go around the school that way.”
Sgt. Christopher Reeves said the officers also have a role in managing the bustle around the school.
“There’s always been an officer that steps out to the main entrance to let the buses go,” Reeves said. “So the correct way is to right. There’s always been an officer in Prince William (Lane). There’s always been an officer up on Frontier (Park) by the tennis courts. So, there’s always a three-(officer) minimum.”
He looks back on the construction that took place last year, which he said highlights the improvement in traffic resources now.
“We had one (officer) at the first red light of Victory (Way) manually operating the button because of the construction,” he said. “Now there’s two red lights (there).”
The safety procedures in place for walkers have not changed much for this school year.
“The district pays crossing guards that are stationed at every area where we know students are going to walk across to come to school,” Trujillo said. “They have all the safety suits and stop signs, and they stop everybody to make sure kids can get across.”
Moore said she wishes additional improvement could happen with the traffic even with the current procedures implemented and takes inspiration from the other high schools in the district.
“It’s really hard to make any more changes unless we (re)arrange the whole parking lot,” Moore said. “I really like how the Rock Hill and Walnut parking lots work, but that is totally different than how our parking lot is. So I guess if I could make any changes, it would be like how Walnut and Rock Hill did it with the daycare road.”
Reeves said he believes that this issue must be addressed at its core.
“Reduce the student population,” Reeves said. “You’ve got 300 staff members. You’ve got 3,700 students, some of which obviously drive. You’ve got a ton of parents who are coming to pick up their kids.”
Ultimately, safety is the No. 1 priority with these procedure changes, and Trujillo said they all do have an impact.
“We’ve seen a lot of relief on both ends when we’re talking about the safety,” Trujillo said. “ I mean, we have 4,000 kids that come to school here, so traffic is not avoidable. But for the most part, when we’re talking about people who are getting here with enough time to get to class and get parked, this stuff is really helpful.”
