Graduation Drive Traffic Issue

This traffic issue has existed for a long time and still the problem is not solved. Below is what I spoke in front of the school board about the graduation drive traffic issue. I added couple edits after talking with Gainesville school board representative Jen Wall and Gainesville board of supervisor George Steward.

Good evening, members of the Board and Superintendent Dr. McDade.

My name is Yubo Zhang, my address is on file. I am the parent of two students at Battlefield High School. I am here to speak about the dangerous 'gridlock' occurring every morning at the intersection of Route 15 and Graduation Drive. This is a long-time problem and I appreciate your continued effort in tackling it, but the problem still exists.

Currently, students and neighbors coming from Dominion Valley are being trapped by a 'plug' in the intersection. Because the Graduation Drive entrance often backs up onto Route 15, drivers turn right and sit in the middle of the crossing, blocking our Westbound green light.

During these dark winter mornings, we are forcing our least experienced drivers—our teenagers—to navigate a high-speed, blocked intersection where visibility is low and tempers are high.

I understand this is work-in-progress and wondering beyond temporary Band-Aids solutions like “camera” and fines,  can we address the root cause? The intersection is blocked because the school’s internal drop-off loop cannot handle the volume. Numerous attempts have been made to redesign the internal traffic flow but we are still having this problem now. What are the barriers? Is it budget?

My ask of the School Board tonight is two-fold:

First, I ask that the Board prioritize Capital Improvement funds specifically for 'Internal Circulation and Safety Infrastructure' at Battlefield. The year I served on BHS PTO, we had to allocate PTO funds for BHS to repaint the internal traffic flow lines. We need to widen the entry reservoir on Graduation Drive to pull those cars off Route 15 faster and keep the intersection clear. Please explore other options such as additional parking space at the end of the graduation drive and compare the cost. Please work with Gainesville board of supervisor to make it happen as those lands belong to the county.

Second, I ask that you authorize the continuation of all those Band-Aid solutions such as high visibility of police officers during rush hour, traffic flow direction support, right turn camera and fines—to manage the Graduation Drive flow until the internal road improvements are made.

We shouldn't wait for a tragedy in the dark to fix a known infrastructure failure. Please make student transit safety a priority in the upcoming budget cycle. This isn't just about one neighborhood; an accident at this crossing puts every Battlefield student—from every zip code—at risk. We need a unified approach between the School Board, the county board of supervisor and VDOT to fix this problem.