District working to fix heavy traffic as kids head back to school in Bellbrook

BELLBROOK — With children heading back to school in Bellbrook, traffic has been backed up as far as the eye can see as parents attempt to drop their kids off at Bell Creek Intermediate School.

Superintendent Doug Cozad said this year, with 600 additional kids back in class after being remote in 2020, along with the school bus mask mandate, more parents are joining the drop-off line.

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Where the congestion is on Upper Bellbrook Road, nearby traffic lights only stay green for 30 to 45 seconds.

This year, the district is trying a new drop off routine where parents drop off near the education center, and busses drop off in front of BCI to hopefully alleviate some of the traffic.

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Cozad says it’s something parents will have to adjust to.

“The volume is just really high and some of that’s timing. If I come at this time it’s really heavy, if I come 10 minutes later it’s much lighter, so people need to figure that out too with their own traffic patterns,” Cozad said. “We ask for patience, consideration, we know there’s heavy traffic on our roads and we’re trying to problem solve.”

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The district is in the process of making changes to fix this traffic issue, both within the district, with the police department, and with the Greene County Engineer’s Office.

Right now, they’re working to close the gap of the bus driver shortage, get more busses out on the roads and sending out new bussing and drop-off schedules to parents.

Cozad says they did see improvement in the traffic from Wednesday, the first day of school, to Thursday, but it could take some time to get used to these changes.

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