Kindergarten to fifth grade parents of the new school—which will eventually serve up to 12th grade—said the initially limited drop-off space left many queuing up along the highway, sluggishly crawling toward the school’s entrance. Some reportedly waited nearly an hour to get their children to and from school.
“The line of cars on the shoulder was almost a mile ... near back to La Crosse [Avenue],” one commuter wrote on social media when the school first opened.
Current situation
The school, in collaboration with both state and local transportation departments, has implemented an improved plan which addresses the highway congestion—for now.
“It's been a total dream ever since they redid the drop-off,” Valor parent Kelly Hitchcock said.
Hitchcock explained that half of the parking lot was unusable for drop-off because the west side of the school was still under construction, which the city hadn't approved for use yet.
After a first week of traffic congestion and various complaints from commuters and the surrounding neighborhood, school officials met with local traffic authorities to find a solution, according to a spokesperson from the city of Austin.
Valor requested permission to open the rest of its parking lot, which city officials approved, providing enough space for vehicles to queue on-site. Additionally, a temporary flashing sign has been installed along MoPac indicating public school traffic ahead.
There are now two drop-off routes divided by younger grades that often take more time to unload because of car seat buckles, and the older grades.
To further reduce congestion, Valor South Austin is temporarily offering free after-school care to all K-5 students who are able to be picked up between 4:30 and 4:45 p.m.
Put in perspective
Valor sent a letter to parents after the first week of traffic.
“While the west side of our campus remains under construction, we do not have permission to use the driveway which will eventually wrap behind the buildings and connect to our exit from the west,” the letter states. “As a result, we had to modify the queuing plan temporarily to keep traffic on the east side of the site. This modified queue is less than half of the planned queuing that will become available when construction is completed.”
The letter also states that the school is exploring the possibility of biking or walking paths once construction is completed. The school submitted a request with the Texas Department of Transportation, or TxDOT, to install a school zone with reduced speed limits.
Some context
According to the letter sent to parents, Valor collaborated “intensively” with TxDOT and the city of Austin throughout the design and permitting process, dating back to the initial purchase of land for the school in 2022.
The city approved the school’s site plan in October 2023. The school’s lane improvements were vetted and approved by TxDOT in December 2023.
“Although the school did have a site plan approved to operate a safe drop-off and pickup zone on their property, they modified the plan because of ongoing construction on the school campus,” a spokesperson for the city of Austin department wrote in an email to Community Impact.
There was originally a transportation impact analysis conducted for the project, which assumed and required access to the full school campus, in particular for drop-off and pickup.
“The applicant later changed to a phased opening plan, and thus did not have full access to the queuing area on-site. The applicant did not update the [traffic impact analysis], and the city did not review or approve this interim plan,” the spokesperson said.
Valor has since worked with TxDOT and the city of Austin to change its ingress and egress patterns, opening the full driveway on its campus, so that queuing occurs on-site per the requirements of the approved site plan.
The city is requiring the school to submit an updated traffic analysis for review prior to the opening of the west portion of campus; additional mitigation measures may be necessary once reviewed, according to the city's spokesperson.
Valor Education declined Community Impact's requests for comment.
Hitchcock remains apprehensive about the full campus opening—when the remaining students, currently attending school at a temporary campus near the Slaughter Lane and Congress Avenue intersection, move at the start of 2025.
Having also transitioned her daughter, now in the third grade, from the other location, Hitchcock said the traffic backup is nothing new. She said parents have been dealing with the same issues at the other location off Congress for years.
Items worth mentioning
A local commuter in the area, Samuel Sroka questioned whether buses could be a potential solution.
"I drove past in the mid-afternoon last week to a line of cars backed up on the shoulder, going back to La Crosse [Avenue]." Sroka wrote in an email to Community Impact on Sept. 14. "I’d be very interested in who authorized the land usage and the access design. ... I’m thrilled about further development in the area, but it does seem perhaps a little premature for that specific site."
Sroka pointed to funding—or lack thereof—for school transportation, including staffing and buses, as a potential underlying issue that leaves many parents, guardians and caretakers responsible for picking up their children.
A typical school bus can hold anywhere from 15 to 70-plus students, according to Texas Department of Safety school bus specifications.
Using buses to transport students could potentially eliminate vehicles on the road during drop-off and pickup, Sroka explained.
However, the state of Texas only requires charter schools to provide transportation to special education students whose individualized education plans require it, according to a recent report by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, a nonprofit advocacy group for charter schools. State funding is only doled out for the transportation of special education students or for students who live 2 or more miles from campus.
The school's traffic analysis summary indicated plans for an estimated 1,525 students when the campus is fully open to all grade levels, kindergarten through 12th grade.
