At the Troy City Council’s monthly, non-voting work meeting Aug. 8, Troy Public Schools Superintendent Jacob Francom presented the council with the latest engineering report for proposed changes to Fifth Street.

The changes are intended to increase student safety and manage traffic at W.F. Morrison Elementary during morning and afternoon drop off and pick up times, Francom has said during previous meetings.

Though the intent has not changed, the latest recommendation from Robert Peccia and Associates out of Kalispell differs from a previous plan, which had a pick-up and drop-off zone immediately in front of the main doors to the school, in the curve of Fifth Street as it passes the school. In the latest plan, the pick-up and drop-off zone and a new sidewalk would be in front of the tennis courts.

As with previous plans, the idea was compared to the loading and unloading zones at airports during discussion Aug. 8.

Unlike the initial plan that had been discussed in council meetings this past spring, the new plan would not make all of Fifth Street one-way. Instead, Fifth Street would be turned into a one-way street from the intersection with Spokane Avenue down past the school and to the intersection with Fourth Street, where it becomes Kalispell Avenue.

The recommendations from the engineering firm — the same used by the City of Troy — also include gates to restrict access to the elementary parking lot when school is in session.

Currently, that area is often used as a cut-through by some drivers, Francom said.

In Google Maps, directions to the elementary direct drivers to take a route down Sixth Street and through the bus parking area to reach the school.

Francom said that a safety audit Troy Schools recently paid for recommended keeping traffic away from the school’s buildings for security. However, he was open to suggestions from Mayor Dallas Carr to move a gate on the school side of the intersection of Sixth Street and Spokane Avenue.

Carr said that he would like to see the gate moved closer to the school, in the proximity of a current fire hydrant.

Francom said he would like to get permission from the council to place signs for a test of the revised traffic pattern. There is currently no sidewalk along the tennis courts where the pick up and drop off would be, but Francom said that school staff would be out at the appropriate times to help direct cars and keep students safe.

Carr also recommended placing some kind of physical barrier between the travel lane and the lane for vehicles that are picking up and dropping off, though he acknowledged it could complicate snow removal.

Francom said that the plan contemplates drivers being able to enter and exit the lane at more than one point, so any physical barrier would have to have multiple openings.

Further discussion as well as a decision on the matter are on the agenda for the regular meeting of the Troy City Council at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.