New Woodburn Community School

CRASH AND SMASH ON ROUTE 705 BY THE MILEGROUND

The crash during rush hours this morning backed up traffic nearly two miles across the entire length of the Mileground (US 119) and down Easton Hill, thus once again entrapping the Eastwood school site. It happens over and over and over at and around this dangerous intersection.

Mon Schools in complete negligence is going full throttle in siting a school on the most dangerous highway in the entire region, even though not a single student in the Eastwood catchment lives on or near Route 705 and only a small handful live near the Mileground.

“433 wrecks, 30 weeks, 8 sites” – first 30 weeks of 2010:

Except for the very few children who live near the Mileground, not a single child who attends Easton or Woodburn Elementary would have to ever risk the traffic crash and entrapment dangers and pollution damages of either the Mileground (119) or Route 705 if not for the horrible arterial intersection Eastwood school site.

The Eastwood site at the intersection of the principal arterial highways WV 705 and US 119 (the Mileground) violates the mandatory provisions of Policy 6200 202.06. The safety of new school sites are specifically regulated by this state Rule, formally titled: 126CSR172 – 0 – Title 126 – Legislative Rule – Board of Education – Series 172 – Handbook On Planning School Facilities (6200). The relevant mandates of state Rule 6200.202.06, “School Site Planning…[and] Location,” (bold added):

For the safety of students, the site shall be located away from hazards and undesirable environments, such as:

a. Railroads, arterial highways, heavily traveled streets, traffic and congestion
b. Noise, toxic gas escapes from […] odoriferous plants or industries
[…]
e. Taverns, fire stations, bulk storage plants for flammable liquid, and property zoned as industrial
f. Situations where a combination of factors such as those presented above could contribute to the possibility of human entrapment

The statutory violations create severe harm and menacing threats, including:

1.         an increased propensity for crashes involving students in cars and buses – according to a study based on police reports, the heavily-traveled arterial intersection in front of the school is one of the most dangerous intersections for crashes in the entire region;

2.         the ever-enduring threat of enormous civil and criminal liability risks – if there is a calamity involving the students in the arterial highways or their intersection adjacent to the school or near it, in flagrant violation of the mandatory statutes (or if there is any other statute-related calamity), the civil and criminal liability lawsuits will dwarf the total cost of building the school, and render INVISIBLE any monies already spent;

3.         vehicle exhaust air pollution above urban background pollution levels – the scientifically and medically known heart and lung damage (to “sensitive receptors” (young children) who live or attend school in close proximity to high traffic roads and gas stations) causes elevated rates of asthma, bronchitis, flu, and other diseases: cancer, heart disease, pneumonia, leukemia, all potentially fatal;

4.         traffic congestion “approaching gridlock” poisons and entraps students – recent studies find a) “rush hours” congestion about 6 hours per day (7-9 am, noon, and 2:30-6 pm) on the arterials engulfing the school site, b) nationally rated worst possible “levels of service” (congestion): “D” and “F” (“approaching gridlock”), and c) afternoon Mileground arterial traffic speeds dropping from 14.1 mph to 8.4 mph (average) and from 7.7 mph to 6.2 mph (rush hours) if the school is added to the Mileground, and average vehicular delay at the school-front arterial intersection doubling with the addition of the school, causing “entrapment” to be not only “possible,” or likely, but inevitable;

5.         gas stations and vehicle repair shops increase the leukemia rate by 400% – in children living nearby, according to studies; Mileground commerce consists mainly of vehicle repair shops, car dealerships, and gas stations, including three gas stations within a few hundred meters of the site, making an impending Sheetz gas station the fourth. The station is schematically designed to be located immediately adjacent to the school site and building and likely sharing a school drive.