{"id":884334,"date":"2026-10-16T12:40:13","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T12:40:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/884334\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T12:40:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T12:40:13","slug":"transportation-planners-address-concerns-from-parents-community-members-about-traffic-around-mandarin-middle-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/884334\/","title":{"rendered":"Transportation planners address concerns from parents, community members about traffic around Mandarin Middle School"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Student drop-off and pickup could look different in the future at Mandarin Middle School<\/a> after traffic and safety concerns from parents sparked a conversation Thursday night with a transportation planner with the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization.<\/p>\n

The North Florida TPO, an independent regional transportation planning agency for Duval, Clay, Nassau and St. Johns counties, is working hand-in-hand with the Florida Department of Transportation\u2019s Safe Routes to School program<\/a>, a state initiative designed to make walking and biking to school safer for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.<\/p>\n

Thalia Fuste, a transportation planner with North Florida TPO, said the organization is considering solutions like crosswalks, speed reduction and encouraging more students to walk or bike to school.<\/p>\n

Although that last one might be a tough sell for the school\u2019s parents.<\/p>\n

Walking to school<\/p>\n

A Mandarin Middle Travel Safety Survey found that nearly three-quarters (71%) of those who responded would not be comfortable with their child walking or biking to school on their own without an adult.<\/p>\n

Only 5% said they would definitely be OK with it, while another 21% admitted they were on the fence.<\/p>\n

Transportation planners hope to change how parents feel about the issue, but in the meantime, another big concern is e-bikes, with many recent stories involving young kids and fatal e-bike crashes.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe might look at having bike and walk to school days to promote a safe way of getting to school. We also are looking at updated education around e-bikes in our schools, and additionally any safe crossings that we can do for kids that are walking and biking there,\u201d said Fuste.<\/p>\n

Traffic trouble<\/p>\n

The two main roads of concern that intersect at the school are Hood Road and Hornets Nest Road.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re out here earlier, you\u2019ve got four different cars going four different directions at the same time on the same road,\u201d parent Amy Shapiro said. \u201cEverybody just has to be patient and try to read everyone else\u2019s mind and see what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those issues, according to the North Florida TPO presentation on Thursday, led to 30 crashes over a five-year period from 2021-2026, with 14 happening during arrival and dismissal, along with two bike crashes.<\/p>\n

Neighbors have also raised concerns about coming in and out of their neighborhoods, and one of them said that things can get difficult when the weather gets worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cDrivers can be courteous enough to keep that driveway open or let homeowners in, as well as those that need to come out,\u201d one neighbor said. \u201cIt\u2019s usually a, I\u2019d say, a 30-minute, maybe 40-minute window. And it\u2019s worse if it\u2019s raining.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fuste detailed some of the potential solutions to the area\u2019s traffic and safety woes.<\/p>\n

On Hood Road, a reduced-speed school zone could be added, along with raised medians closer to the school, a pedestrian detector station, and signal improvement at the traffic light at the intersection, such as a flashing yellow arrow.<\/p>\n

On Hornets Nest, North Florida TPO suggested adding flexible delineators on lane lines, a midblock crosswalk, and another raised median with landscaping and centerline hardening.<\/p>\n

\u201cPotentially, the city of Jacksonville can look at adding a school zone that would reduce speeds right outside of the school, that would look at 15 mph or so,\u201d Fuste said. \u201cIt would have flashers before school starts and after, during arrival and pickup.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Student drop-off and pickup could look different in the future at Mandarin Middle School after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":884335,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,276240,218069,451,78197,371174,3,452,453,2987],"class_list":["post-884334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-dcps","tag-fdot","tag-headlines","tag-mandarin","tag-mandarin-middle-school","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-traffic"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884334","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=884334"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/884334\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/884335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=884334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=884334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=884334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}