Plano ISD is working toward a policy that will make the commute to school safer for students.

What’s happening

Steven Ewing, PISD chief of business services, presented potential updates to the district’s hazardous road guidelines to the board of trustees during its Aug. 20 meeting. Ewing said that PISD has not updated its hazardous road guidelines since Oct. 4, 2010.

“We will see a reduction in hazardous routes as a result of updating the hazardous roadway guidelines,” Ewing said.

Why it matters

One goal of the new plan is to be more “specific and less subjective” about what qualifies as a hazardous roadway, Ewing said. The new guidelines would categorize the following as hazardous roadways:

• Four- or six-lane roadway with a speed limit over 45 mph
• Four- or six-lane roadway that does not have pedestrian-activated traffic signals
• US 75
• Dallas North Tollway
• President George Bush Turnpike
• Preston Road
• Active railroad tracks
• Areas that do not have sidewalks or a safe path

Any students that are ineligible for regular busing due to living within 2 miles of their school would be eligible for hazardous bus routes if they need to cross a road that qualifies as a hazardous roadway.

The district can apply for up to 10% of its regular transportation allotment from the state to fund hazardous bus routes, and Ewing said that the district regularly exceeds that allotment under the current guidelines.

Ewing added that many roadways that qualified as hazardous under the 2010 guidelines no longer would due to infrastructure updates.

“Over the last 14 years, the cities that serve Plano ISD families have built a tremendous amount of infrastructure, including measures to increase safety on our Plano ISD roads,” he said.

What’s next

The board of trustees will vote on the new guidelines in September. If approved, the guidelines would be implemented for the 2025-26 school year.