{"id":14657,"date":"2016-09-21T13:05:11","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T18:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=14657"},"modified":"2024-07-02T16:29:07","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T16:29:07","slug":"build","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=14657","title":{"rendered":"If You Build It, They Will Come"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"School
School board members, the superintendent, education facility planners, school transportation directors, residential developers, and local city planners came together to make sure Northside Elementary\u2019s dowtown Chapel Hill location was the right choice. (photo by James West\/JWestProductions.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

E<\/span>ach morning, about 800,000 North Carolina students spend an average of 23 minutes on a school bus, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction\u2019s Transportation Information Management System<\/a>. Each student costs about $575 to transport \u2014 that\u2019s $4.6 million a\u00a0year.<\/p>\n

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Oftentimes, school districts and municipalities decide where to build a school without thinking about the transportation costs, according to UNC<\/span> Department of City and Regional Planning Chair Noreen McDonald. \u201cSchool districts are under a lot of pressure financially,\u201d she says. \u201cIn North Carolina, there\u2019s a large and growing population, so we have to build a lot of new schools, which are very costly. And there\u2019s pressure to look for schools on less expensive land. Sometimes that can be great, but it can also be very expensive to get kids to those\u00a0schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to support school construction decision-making, McDonald and graduate student Mathew Palmer used data from North Carolina to assess how much it costs school districts to not only run buses but pay drivers and crossing guards, keep up with maintenance, and insert sidewalks and pavement for easy pick-up and drop-off. From this information, they developed the School Travel Cost Calculator<\/a> \u2014 a tool to help districts figure out the cost of transportation based on a school\u2019s specific\u00a0location.<\/p>\n

Chickens and\u00a0eggs<\/strong><\/p>\n

Although not always convenient, building schools away from cities can promote other types of growth like housing developments and other businesses. The same holds true for the opposite situation: Housing developments do, sometimes, stimulate school construction. \u201cIt\u2019s a chicken-and-egg concept,\u201d Palmer says. \u201cDoes the school come first and then residential development \u2014 or vice\u00a0versa?\u201d<\/p>\n

Two examples of these types of communities, according to McDonald, are Meadowmont and Southern Village. \u201cThe developers actually set aside sites in those neighborhoods to place a school for kids to go to,\u201d she explains. \u201cThose are very creative models, but that doesn\u2019t happen\u00a0everywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those collaborations, however, are typically what\u2019s missing in most cases. \u201cIt\u2019s evident that there is a gap between transportation officials and land-use planners,\u201d Palmer adds. \u201cA really good example in our community, though, is Northside Elementary in downtown Chapel Hill. It took coordination from school board members, the superintendent, education facility planners, school transportation directors, residential developers, and local city planners for this school to come\u00a0together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, even when schools are erected near neighborhoods, the proper measures aren\u2019t always taken to make sure children can get there safely. Using aerial images from about 20 new schools \u2014 11 in North Carolina and nine in Florida \u2014 Palmer observed community sidewalks to figure out the ease at which a child within a half-mile of the school could physically walk there. \u201cAt most schools, there was some piece of missing sidewalk or missing crosswalk,\u201d McDonald says. \u201cJust a little bit of something that would make it hard for a child to get there. Sometimes we miss the easy\u00a0wins.\u201d<\/p>\n

Palmer and McDonald recognize the importance of communication in these situations. Together, they developed a website<\/a> that educates users about school siting, implications for public policy and transportation planning, factors that influence cost, the School Travel Cost Calculator, and opportunities for a more efficient system. \u201cOur goal is to get people talking about school transportation and all the different aspects of it,\u201d McDonald says. \u201cNorth Carolina is growing rapidly. If housing developments are designed correctly and connected to schools, it\u2019s a win for\u00a0everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Noreen McDonald is an associate professor and chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning in the UNC<\/span> College of Arts and Sciences, as well as the director of the Carolina Transportation\u00a0Program.<\/em><\/div>\n
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Mathew Palmer is a PhD student in the Department of City and Regional Planning, specializing in\u00a0transportation.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

By Alyssa LaFaro, Endeavors <\/a>
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As schools move further and further away from cities, the cost of busing continues to skyrocket \u2014 but UNC city and regional planning chair Noreen McDonald hopes to change 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