Bigfork sticks with bus approach, despite outcry

A change in how buses approach the Bigfork School District campus in the afternoon will continue despite concerns of residents.

The district recently changed the way buses were approaching the bus loading zone in the afternoon when the buses are not loaded with students.

Rather then using two different approaches to the bus loading zone, all eight buses now use a downhill approach — taking Commerce Street, turning onto Cascade Avenue and then turning onto Grand Drive toward the district.

The change received formal school board approval at a Dec. 13 meeting.

Before the change, four buses used a downhill approach. Four other buses drove from Holt Drive onto Grand Drive, making a U-turn through a crosswalk to approach the school district.

Both the downhill and U-turn approaches are still used in morning routes, which did not change.

When weather conditions do not permit driving downhill, buses will take the U-turn approach and a flagger will be stationed to assist traffic at the loading zone.

Reasons for the change to the afternoon bus approach are consistency, safety and efficiency, according to Bigfork Superintendent Matt Jensen and Transportation Director Rob Tracy. Jensen had previously stated at a Nov. 8 board meeting that buses were having more issues with parked cars in the afternoon.

During the Dec. 13 meeting, Bigfork resident Shelli Riedesel said parked cars and traffic by the bus loading zone is a problem in the morning. Zones designated as no parking and for student drop-off and pick-up should be better enforced rather than changing the bus approach, according to Riedesel.

“Twenty-five cars came by to drop their kids off on the south end of the school during 7:30-7:55 [a.m. on Dec. 11] as the buses were coming and going,” Riedesel said, noting that a few people left their parked cars for several minutes. “Then within just the last five minutes before the morning bell rang another 21 cars came and dropped their kids off.”

Riedesel and community member Wendy Miller had previously voiced concerns about the change at a Nov. 8 meeting after their children’s bus driver was taken off the route because she wouldn’t comply with driving it out of safety concerns.

Some residents living in the impacted neighborhood saw weather as a safety issue, but also saw the increased traffic from four to eight buses possibly being problematic in regard to road width, snow plowing frequency and lack of sidewalks for pedestrians.

When concerns were raised, the district consulted Montana Highway Patrol to verify the safety of the two approaches. Additionally, Jensen said the district’s insurance provider was consulted.

Routes are monitored on a daily basis for weather conditions and safety, according to Tracy, who has already served as a flagger on more than one occasion. He said the change is not driven by opinion, but professional assessments.

“Bigfork school [district] is growing and that’s a good thing,” Tracy said. “The downside is that the school is landlocked and that can create challenges for moving 400-plus students twice a day in and out of the campus.”

“I want to address the importance of the recommended change in the approach. The change from the U-turn on Grand Avenue to [the] Commerce, Cascade, Grand approach is all about the safest means in positioning the buses for their p.m. staging area in a desire to make the approach uniform for all buses and their drivers. Neither approach comes without concerns, which have been addressed and voiced to you from both sides.”

The input of the insurance provider in addition to the patrolman changed some board members’ minds to go ahead and approve the change.

“My first inclination a month ago was to vote to put it back the way that it was. And I do have a lot of reverence for my bus driver and for all the bus drivers because I put my kids on the bus every morning,” trustee Jessica Martinz said. “I also care about citizens and what they think and it’s our job to listen and weigh that with everything else. But when we have so many experts, and I guess the last one was the school insurance agent, which really turned my opinion around because I have to think about what’s best for the schools and liability. Just because my opinion is it’s safer to do a U-turn versus going downhill, it doesn’t matter, that’s not the consensus with the experts.”

In turn, Martinz along with a few other trustees agreed that there do need to be changes or improvements in managing traffic and parked cars by bus loading zones.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.