Traffic Safety Improvements Planned at Somerset Hills Schools

School and borough officials agreed at a joint meeting on Tuesday that steps should be taken to make traffic safety improvements at the Bedwell Elementary and Bernardsville Middle schools, with the installation of speed tables likely to be the first step.

Beyond that, the Somerset Hills regional Board of Education along with the Bernardsville Borough Council, agreed to set up an ad hoc committee to review other potential steps to make dropoffs and pickups safer for the school community and at borough facilities along the jointly-owned driveway leading off Seney Drive.

Board President Donna Coons and Board President Nancy Palazzolo said the most urgent issue to address is vehicles to drop off students at either the elementary or middle school, which are both located on about 15 acres off Seney.

For now, officials agreed to look into installing tapered speed tables along school driveways this spring, possibly in the scheduled April school break. Schools Superintendent Peter Miller observed that speed bumps could be damaging to school buses.

The driveway heading back to the middle school also is used for others heading to fields or tennis courts at the Bernardsville Polo Grounds, owned by the borough, and for school traffic entering a parking lot by adjoining Bernardsville pool. Part of the driveway is owned by the borough.

"There's a lot going on at that campus year-round," Miller said of the property served by multiple entrances and the loop back to the middle school.

Other suggested improvements include additional lighting or sidewalks.

Borough Councilman Joe Rossi also suggested that school traffic only be permitted to enter one way through the parking lot by the pool.

The issue of traffic safety was brought up by a letter sent to Miller in October that had been signed by the co-presidents of the Home-School Associations for both the Bedwell and Bernardsville Middle Schools. The letter particularly expressed concern for pedestrians crossing the driveway.

The school district's engineer, Francis Mullan, said that it should be "do-able" to design and install speed tables by April if officials want to schedule the improvement at that time.

Board member Louis Palma said that the district wants to coordinate any projects on driveways shared by drivers heading to either borough or school facilities.