The Municipal Services Committee met 05/12/2025. One of the items they took up was the request to approve a school route plan for Sandy Slope Elementary that provides walking routes to the school that avoid having to cross busy streets at uncontrolled intersections.
The plan involved changes at two intersections:
- Ashbury Dr / Lightning Dr Intersection: Add a crossing guard and convert from two-way stop control to all-way stop control
- Ashbury Dr / Providence Av: Convert from two-way stop control to all-way stop control
The committee voted unanimously to recommend the item for approval.
I’ve prepared a transcript of the discussion for download:
City Traffic Engineer Eric Lom told the committee that, per state law, any students attending Sany Slope who live east of French Road or North of JJ will be bused to school due to the lack of pedestrian facilities on some of the paths they would need to walk.
As a result, the school route plan before the committee was focused on the area south of JJ and west of French Road.
ASHBURY/LIGHTNING INTERSECTION – This is already an extremely busy intersection during school pick-up and drop-off times at North High School and is expected to get worse when the elementary school opens. To help improve safety, they will convert it from a two-way stop to an all-way stop and place a crossing guard at it who would be employed under the contract jointly held by the city and the school district.
ASHBURY/PROVIDENCE INTERSECTION – This intersection is more distant from the school, but Providence has a long history of cars traveling at high speed, and the intersection has a bit of a crash history. Given its distance from the school and the smaller number of students who will be crossing it, there is no plan to have a crossing guard at that location but they will convert it from a two-way stop to an all-way stop.
If approved, the changes would be implemented this summer so that they would be in place by the time school started in the Fall.
Traffic Engineer Lom indicated there would be some minor parking-related restrictions associated with these changes which will come before the committee for approval at a later date.
Alderperson Alex Schultz (District 9) asked if the construction work on 41 was impacting traffic in this area. Engineer Lom responded that it was not only in that area but across the entire city.
Alderperson Sheri Hartzheim (District 13) who represents that area of the city, indicated there was a great need for some better urbanization of some of the larger trunk roads in that area. She asked if and where school zone signage would be placed.
Engineer Lom said that the area was already a school zone because of North High School, but that existing zone would be extended to cover Sandy Slope. They did not anticipate having a posted school zone at the Ashbury/Providence intersection given how far it was from the school and the fact that it was an all-way stop.
The committee voted unanimously to recommend the item for approval.
View full meeting details and video here: https://cityofappleton.legistar.com/MeetingDetail.aspx?ID=1306263&GUID=A8CDACC2-AB6B-423D-B31F-9D907ACA2FC0
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