Resident Says Bus Drop Off On Tanglewood Too Dangerous

Bruce Fox grew up at 120 Tamarack Drive and lives there now, so he's no stranger to the traffic that collects there come 7:15 a.m. and 2 p.m. on weekdays during the school year. He's used to kids crossing over his property on their way to or from East Greenwich High School. 

That he can live with.

What he doesn't like is that beginning of this school year, a middle school bus stop was changed so that his 12-year-old and at least two other Cole Middle School students are dropped off at Tanglewood Drive at Larch Road have to navigate the traffic to get from the drop-off point to their homes.

At Tuesday night's School Committee meeting, Fox asked School Committee members to reinstate the old bus stop, which dropped children off at the western end of Larch Road at Tamarack Drive. 

"I don't have an issue with the traffic. Now that my son goes to Cole Middle School, the elimination of that bus stop means a much longer walk through traffic at the end of the day," Fox said. (See map, attached at right.)

"Today, 50-plus cars for the pickup this afternoon waited around the access road. They backed up around the corner ... and the cars go in both directions."

Fox was referring to the parents who arrange to pick up their children on Tamarack Drive to avoid having to deal with the traffic that builds at dismissal on Avenger Drive. Even more parents drop off their students on Tamarack before school, but Fox said that was not a problem, since there was more of a rolling dropoff in the mornings.

Supt. Victor Mercurio had been to Tamarack Drive to check the traffic situation but the bus dropped off the middle school children at 2:25 p.m., after the large majority of cars had cleared the area. 

Fox, however, said whether it was once a week or once a month, the level of traffic on Tamarack was a hazard for younger students like his son, who is 12.

The School Committee said they would review the issue; no action was taken.