TOWN OF TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WKBW) — The Ken-Ton School District and Town of Tonawanda are working together on a series of safety and traffic improvements around Benjamin Franklin Middle and Elementary Schools and Adams Field.
The changes are aimed at reducing congestion during school arrival and dismissal times, as well as during football games and athletic events.
Superintendent Sabatino Cimato said the district has seen increasing vehicle, bicycle and e-bike traffic around the complex, creating a greater need to better control how people enter and exit the area.
“We have a lot of congestion around, especially around Adams,” Cimato said. “So we focused on that. We have this Franklin parking lot. We've talked about it for arrival and dismissal. Let's talk about it for games, and so we looked at how we can make it so that everybody is using this and only this safely.”
As part of the new event traffic plan, the Parker entrance to Adams Field will be closed during sporting events. Visitors will instead be directed to park in the rear Franklin parking lot.
WATCH: Ken-Ton Schools, Town of Tonawanda partner on traffic changes
The district also plans to build a road connecting the back of that parking lot to the roadway through Lincoln Park. Town of Tonawanda Supervisor John Flynn said the roadway will become one-way, helping improve traffic flow during busy arrival and dismissal periods.
Flynn said the changes are also intended to reduce the impact on nearby residents.
“It helps not only the kids who go to school here," Flynn said. "It helps their parents, it helps the community in general and it helps the immediate neighbors here, those who live on Parkhurst and those who live off of Parker."
The district also plans to add lighting and improve pedestrian access between the rear parking lot and athletic facilities.
Cimato said the partnership between the district and the town is part of a broader effort to make decisions that benefit both students and the surrounding community.
The new event traffic plan is scheduled to begin on Wednesday and is expected to be fully in place by varsity games this weekend.
The new connecting road is expected to be completed within the next few months.
