Construction Underway!

Pavement resurfacing and restriping of Country Drive is currently underway!  The City’s pavement maintenance contractor has recently completed the resurfacing phase of work of Country Drive between Fremont Boulevard and Paseo Padre Parkway.  After the new pavement surface completely dries, the contractor will mark out the guidelines for the new lane striping, with final striping scheduled for the beginning of August before the start of the new school year at Washington High School on August 12th.  

What will the “new” Country Drive look like? 

 The new roadway design along Country Drive (between Fremont Boulevard and Paseo Padre Parkway) is developed specifically to better balance the needs of the various roadway users, facilitate safer walking and bicycling to Washington High School, and restore the neighborhood characteristics of the roadway for surrounding residents.  New key features include:

• Two-direction separated bikeway along Washington High School campus.
• Enhanced pedestrian crossings at Country Drive/Lexington Street intersection.
• Enhanced pedestrian crossings at Country Drive/Hastings Street intersection.
• Maintain on-street parking along both sides of Country between Lexington Street and Paseo Padre Parkway
• New traffic signal timing at Fremont Boulevard that will provide a dedicated green light for Country Drive vehicles turning onto Fremont Boulevard without conflict with pedestrian crossing.  Pedestrians crossing Fremont Boulevard will have separate dedicated green light.

What does the “new” Country Drive mean for Washington High School parents and students?  

The parents and students may experience the biggest change traveling along Country Drive between Fremont Boulevard and Lexington Street, where the majority of the school traffic, walking students, and biking students travel through and interact.  The main school ingress driveway (just west of Lexington Street intersection) will continue to be the primary vehicle access into the school parking lot, and it will be served with a dedicated westbound right turn lane and a two-way turn lane along the middle of Country Drive.  This driveway is also the primary access route for biking students to access the school from the new two-direction bikeway fronting the school.  To minimize the overall conflict and confusion for motorists and walking/biking students at the driveway, a new left turn restriction will be implemented for vehicle traffic exiting the driveway closest to Tak Fudenna Stadium onto Country Drive.  Parents or students who wish to turn left from the school parking lot onto Country Drive can still do so at the driveway closer to the Fremont Boulevard intersection.  For a visual of the allowable movements described for the school driveways between Fremont Boulevard and Lexington Street, please see exhibits below:

Students who park along the school side of Country Drive will no longer be parking against the curb,  but further "into the street" along the two-direction bikeway.  There will be a 3-foot separation buffer between the parking space and the bikeway, but passengers exiting on the right side of parked vehicles are advised to open the door slowly and look for on-coming bicyclists.                                               

Are there other Safe Routes to School options?
The short answer is YES!  Like all roadways adjacent to schools, it can be expected that there will continue to be school related traffic congestion and delay during the morning drop off and afternoon dismissal periods.  While the new roadway design is intended to improve overall safety for students and improve traffic management along Country Drive, parents and students are encouraged to park their vehicles, conduct student drop-off, or pickup students further from the school campus and avoid the immediate congestion adjacent to the school property.  As part of the City’s overall Safe Routes to School Program, a recommended walking and biking route map was developed for Washington High School that utilizes nearby existing and planned bike and pedestrian routes, traffic signals, as well as enhanced pedestrian and bicycle crossings (see below)

What can be expected along Country Drive after start of school? 

 As previously stated, the City will work with the contractor to complete all construction activities (resurfacing, striping, and installation of various roadway signs and devices) through the rest of the school summer break period in preparation for the first day of school (August 12th).  City staff will be on site during the beginning of the new school year to monitor the traffic flow and general road user behavior along Country Drive and make additional adjustments as needed.

If you have any questions or feedback related to the new Country Drive, please the City’s Transportation Engineering team at transportationengineering@fremont.gov