As public schools on Bainbridge Island prepare for the start of in-person learning next week, a big issue surrounding their return is traffic congestion.

Many parents won’t be having their children ride school buses due to potential COVID-19 exposure so they will be dropping them off and picking them up.

To combat that problem, a Safe Routes to School proposal to add pop-up walking and biking locations for students to commute to their respective schools was approved by the City Council Tuesday night.

Students may even receive a school PE credit for walking or biking to school.

The project was developed by the school district, parks department, Squeaky Wheels bike advocacy group, Bainbridge PTO, Bainbridge Greenways, Sustainable Transportation Plan Task Force and island parents.

The three pop-up areas that overlap with city processes and/or facilities are the First Baptist Church crosswalk, Island Church/Sportsman pathway, and the Grow Avenue pathway/traffic calming. The Day Road pathway is no longer being considered.

At each of those locations, items like signage, delineators, gravel and other supplies will ensure safety for drivers and students/parents utilizing the pathways.

The Grow Avenue location is perhaps the most complex to plan for, given its location to downtown Winslow and all the foot-traffic that goes through there. At that location, a 30- to 60-foot “constricted zone” will be implemented using flexible and temporary delineators in five locations with radar feedback signs, city documents state.

The traffic calming measures at Grow could go from temporary to permanent based on performance and feedback over the next few weeks. Additionally, street-painted speed limit markers could be added to each zone.

Other potential Grow Avenue concepts for the pop-up location include:

• West-side separated path with delineators (not easily implemented due to parking, driveways, mailboxes, aesthetic concerns)

• Advisory shoulder striping (feasible, but new concept that needs community outreach and education; potentially implement post-construction detour)

• One-way couplet (feasible, but needs community outreach and education)

“I love the fact that we’re doing innovative experiments,” Councilmember Leslie Schneider said. “I know it’s a significant effort that goes into that.”

The 2021 adopted city budget includes $200,000 in the annual contingency fund. The proposed expenditure of $7,500 for this project would reduce the amount of remaining fund to $127,500.