By Bill Oliver
Commerce, TX –
More traffic changes are coming in Commerce. The city council has approved new restrictions around Commerce High School and A.C. Williams Elementary.
The council created no parking, stopping, or standing zones 100 feet in all directions from the intersection of Washington and Charity Road. School officials say this is in order to allow school busses to get in and out of the school. Mayor Sheryl Zelhart said someway parents driving their children to school have to be persuaded to take the extra time to go to the rear of the school for drop off and pick up. The restrictions will occur only on school days.
The council created speed limits on Sregit Drive, the road that goes by Commerce High School. Covering the entire length of the street from Culver to highway 224, the speed limit was set at 35 miles per hour during non-school hours and 20 before and after school. Commerce ISD Police Chief Joe Venable will be checking traffic around the high school while Commerce City Police cover school zones elsewhere around town. Councilman Tony Henry asked for flashing lights warning drivers, but no action was taken.
The Council unanimously voted to remove a ban on truck traffic using North Neal Street. This was associated with the new Legacy Homes home plant, to allow trucks to leave town with newly built structures. Federal regulations restrict this type of traffic to daytime hours only. Council members were told the latest trucks would be leaving the new plant would be 11 in the morning because drivers have to get to their destinations before dark. On school days, trucks will not be allowed between 7 and 8 in the morning and 3 and 4 in the afternoon.