Chandler board OKs school traffic-flow work for nearly $2M

By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | X: @JasonWBrooks2

A contract approved by the Chandler Unified Governing board for traffic flow improvements at a school will be paid for from two different pools of property tax money totaling nearly $2 million.

The board unanimously approved a contract with Chasse Building Co. on May 6 to create some parking, parent drop-off and bus traffic flow solutions at Weinberg Gifted Academy in Gilbert.

The school and neighborhood have undergone changes since it was designed and built and its traffic flow areas are now obsolete.

Weinberg was opened as a neighborhood elementary school in 1986 but has since been converted into one of a handful of CUSD’s gifted academies, which changed how students get to the school each day.

Open enrollment and Weinberg’s teachers and programs, according to CUSD Superintendent Frank Narducci, has made the school one of the most popular K-6 options for district parents. A staff report states 80% of students are transported to and from school by their families by vehicle rather than living within walking distance or busing.

Between Val Vista Drive having become a major north-south artery for southeast Chandler and west Gilbert, along with Appleby Road being a narrow collector road, traffic backs up regularly on Val Vista, especially in the mornings — sometimes for a full mile to the south.

Traffic is such a problem, the district devoted a page and aerial photos on the Weinberg website to showing parents where certain grades have drop-off/pickup areas, to keep them separate from the buses.

Assistant Superintendent Tom Dunn told the board the plan is to start work immediately that involves swapping the current bus and drop-off areas and creating more off-street lanes to do so.

“The bus lane along Val Vista will be utilized as the beginning of a queuing lane for drop-offs,” Dunn explained. “And we’re moving buses to the Appleby side where there will a sort of cutout, similar to what’s at Knox or Frye (schools).”

He said there will be other adjustments made for exiting and parking. An abandoned water tank on the Appleby side will be removed.

Dunn said the timeline for the improvements, if work is started this month, should be done sometime “after the end of the first quarter” of the upcoming school year, or after Sept. 18.

A staff report states district and school administration have had several meetings with the town of Gilbert and the Gilbert Police Department to discuss ways to improve traffic flow and maximize safety as a more permanent solution was developed and constructed.

The contract with Chasse includes about $291,000 from adjacent ways funding and about $1.896 million from 2025 bond funds.

According to the Arizona School Facilities Board, adjacent ways funding is “a specialized property tax levy that school districts use to pay for infrastructure improvements adjacent to school properties. It is primarily designed to ensure safe vehicle access and provide utilities to the property line without having to pull money from general classroom budgets.”

Email Jason W. Brooks at jbrooks@iniusa.org. Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.

Jason W. Brooks
News Editor | Chandler Independent

Jason W. Brooks joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in July 2021 as an associate editor. After a year covering Buckeye, he has covered Chandler since the fall of 2022, in addition to assisting the Daily Independent throughout his time at INI.

Education: University of New Mexico, bachelor of arts in journalism and mass communication, print emphasis, English minor.

Random Fact: He and his siblings witnessed a Space Shuttle launch and landing in the same year in person, on opposite coasts.

Hobbies: Karaoke, bicycling and American Sign Language.

Community: He supports animal shelters.