Construction on the Corona del Mar High School pool parking lot has begun with hopes that traffic will flow more smoothly during drop off and pick up when school begins in September.
Last fall, members of the schools PTA complained about congestion in the lot and demanded changes; read our story here.
“The bus drop off has been moved to a new dedicated space off Eastbluff to keep the buses entirely out of the north lot,” according to an email written by Deputy Superintendent Paul Reed, which was sent by Laura Boss, a Newport-Mesa Unified School District spokeswoman. “That alone, plus the expanded stacking space in the lot itself, should improve traffic around CdM in the crazy morning period.”
District officials worked with the school’s resource police officer and City of Newport Beach traffic engineers to formulate a plan that would reduce congestion. Officials implemented a trial run of the reconfiguration in May; read our story here.
The email said that district and city officials had “high hopes” that traffic flow would improve with the changes.
“Of course, the morning commute for residents paired with the start time of a 7-12 campus will always have
its challenges. We’re hopeful they will be lesser challenges, however.”
The parking lot was revamped four years ago, the email said.
“When we initially moved the tennis courts and created the lot expansion we knew that we only had a temporary fix. But we needed to provide off-set parking for the back parking lot we would have to restrict during the upcoming construction projects.”
At the time, however, funding was not available.
“Nonetheless, we did everything we could to deliver that project cost effectively with an eye toward what we knew would be a second phase,” the email said. “The second phase, tying the two lots together and improving the traffic flow, was going to require new drainage in the old lot and a number of other coordinating issues.”
The cost of the pool lot construction was not immediately available, Boss said.
Construction on a middle school enclave project and a new theater for the school began last summer with demolition. State approval of the plans came this spring with plans to resume construction over the summer; read our story here.
