NORTHEAST TALLAHASSEE, FL (WTXL) — Killearn Estates residents are calling for an immediate solution to traffic congestion near Montford Middle School and Roberts Elementary as the 2026-2027 school year gets underway. They say the problem has persisted for years.
WATCH FULL REPORT BELOW:
Neighbors Stan Arline and Chad Teems say parent pickup chaos on Centerville Road is back, with a non-moving quarter-mile line of cars backing up into their neighborhood and blocking the entrance to their street.
They say the situation has only gotten worse and brought more frustration, more barriers, more difficulty getting home, and two accidents reported in a single week.
"They try to pick [students] up in our neighborhood, but it blocks the entrance to our neighborhood,” Teems said.
“The reason they're picking them up in the neighborhood is because there is a non-moving quarter-of-a-mile line of parents trying to pick up their kids at school," Arline said.
The residents say they have been raising concerns for more than a year, and they're now asking Leon County Schools, local law enforcement, and county commissioners to work together on both immediate and long-term solutions.
"What we're asking for, once again, a year-and-a-half later — and that they've known about this for years — for Leon County Schools, our local law enforcement, and our county commissioners to get together and proactively try to come up with some solutions now and for the future," Teems said.
Leon County School Board Member Alva Smith, who represents District 1, says the congestion is rooted in the schools' layout. Both campuses share a single one-way entrance.
She says the schools have already sent notices to parents about parking on private property.
"We are aware of the problem and have really done everything we can within our power on school side property to try to alleviate," Smith said.
A potential longer-term fix is in the works through Blueprint's Northeast Park project, which includes a planned pedestrian access point to the school.
According to Commissioner Brian Welch's office, that project carries an estimated completion date of Summer 2027.
In the meantime, engineers are conducting a traffic study to evaluate whether Leon County Schools can reconfigure traffic patterns and parking around Roberts Elementary.
"We do have an engineer company that's doing a study on the parking and the driveway around Roberts to see if we can look at some different rearranging of the traffic patterns around school, and that would have also changing some of the parking lot," Smith said.
But Arline and Teems say they cannot afford to wait.
"I'm afraid that nothing's going to get done until some child, somebody's child, is going to be injured or worse. It's a shame that that would have to happen that way,” Arline said.
“You're right, and we should do something now rather than wait for that to take place," Teems said.
Both residents suggested that law enforcement be deployed to direct traffic and enforce parking restrictions.
I reached out to the Leon County Sheriff's Office, which has conducted past assessments of the area to “determine if further action is needed.”
The agency says it will “do the same this year.”
“We remain committed to working with our school partners and the community to identify solutions that improve traffic flow and safety,” the agency said in part in a statement.
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