GPD warns drivers and parents to expect traffic delays while Littlewood and Westwood share a campus this year
Staff report
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Gainesville Police Department (GPD) is recommending that drivers avoid the area around Westwood Middle School during drop-off and pickup times during the upcoming school year, when Littlewood and Westwood will be sharing the campus.
Starting next week and throughout the 2024-25 school year, Littlewood Elementary students will be in the portables on the Westwood Middle School campus (1500 NW 34th St.) while their school is being renovated.
GPD is asking anyone who drives in that area between drop-off (7 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.) or pickup (2:15 p.m. to 4:45 p.m.) times to be aware that they may experience significant traffic delays and may want to find alternate routes.
GPD is also asking parents of Littlewood and Westwood students to consider having their children take a bus or carpool instead of dropping them off and picking them up every day.
So.. an already overcrowded school (Westwood) is now taking on a whole elementary school too? this is going to be CRAZY!
Westwood’s new buildings will open on Thursday. Littlewood students will be in the portables that Westwood students have been using for the past two years.
Jen so dumb, the new buildings and the portables are on the same campus. Stick to your coloring books please and stop eating the crayons.
Speaking of dumb…
Those same facilities were used by another school during it’s renovation/construction. Westwood just happens to have a lot of available open space.
I’ve often said that despite what Gainesville leaders claim, there’s a lot of village idiots. Thanks for proving the point.
Oh great. So between this and the 30 minute traffic light at 31st Blvd and 34th. Love it.
Regardless of this temporary building issue our public schools create more traffic issues than anything else. They create a total cluster f*** that gets worse every year. The roads are not setup for the messes they cause every school day. It’s ridiculous.
It’s very maddening. I’ll also add that it isn’t just public schools…nearly all schools seems to wreak havoc on our traffic. Parents think it’s okay to just park on a major road for 20 minutes…that’s insane. Government & ‘religious’ daycare wrecks everything it touches
As far back as 2019, this move has been in the works.
Where are the results of all this planning to alleviate traffic jams, bus drop off?
There should be at least four crossing guards for the assigned zones. Six would be more like it.
It’s going to be a mess people. Call your commissioner and complain.
This just once again makes me glad I live out in the rural area of the county. These poor parents, having to navigate this disaster twice a day for a year! Maybe a group purchase of a helicopter would be in order?
Seems appropriate given many of today’s “helicopter” parents.
Given the extended delays, I’m hoping GPD takes the opportunity to issue citations to those drivers texting on their mobile devices.
Let’s see how much effort they, GPD, puts into dealing with a problem local leadership would rather blame on not enough bike lanes, speed bumps, and speed limits.
Middle School and Elementary School students on the same campus… not good.
Not enough schools and piss poor roads. But hey! Let’s keep destroying, building more subdivisions/apartments, getting more and more people