KEEP RIGHT | School zone updates bring major change for Primary traffic

There’s a significant change coming to the traffic flow at Gladewater Primary School as the city and school district try to alleviate congestion during drop-off and pick-up times.
After months of observation and discussion by city leaders, the police department and Gladewater ISD administrators, signs will be posted this week barring left-hand turns out of GPS onto Gay Avenue on school days from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.
It comes as old news to GPS parents following a slew of notifications by the campus and school district since Gladewater council members signed off on the recommended rule last month. Likewise, since classes kicked-off Aug. 3, School Resource Officer Farrell Alexander has had a hand in directing traffic and warding drivers away from the left-hand turns that snare eastbound vehicles turning onto Hwy. 271.
Gladewater Police Department understands it’ll be an adjustment – no citations will be issued during a standard 30-day grace period that officially begins the day the signage is installed.
“There were a lot of issues with parents dropping off and picking up trying to make a left turn onto West Gay Ave. going back toward to 271,” GPD Lt. Freddy Fitzgerald told council members July 16. “That is a really short area. It would cause traffic to back up.”
The elected officials unanimously approved the finalized plan to limit drivers’ options during posted hours.
“I know y’all have exhausted every which way on this,” Mayor Brandy Flanagan-Shipp said last month. “If this is what y’all feel is the best solution…”
Per Fitzgerald, “If they can all just turn right during those times, that should alleviate a lot of the problems at the primary school.”
A little more than a week into the 2026-2027, there’s a learning curve, according to GPD Chief Kyle Ready, but the change is the simplest solution developed by the city, school and police. Drivers are catching up.
“Everyone’s trying,” Ready said Monday. “There’s an adjustment period. Parents have to get used to the new flow of traffic, the citizens have to get used to the new flow of traffic.
“Once we get it established, we feel like it’s going to free up the traffic congestion we’ve been experiencing over the years.”
Citations for violations will begin in mid-September.
It’s progress, councilman Kevin Clark said last week, but it’s not the permanent fix of a new road that carries the school traffic behind the campus.
“The solution is going to have to be that road around it,” he said, a cost that would have to be shared by the city and GISD. “You’re going to have pony up some money long-term.”
Other updates also set school zones at all campuses from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Fitzgerald told the council. In another note tied to GPS, drivers are prohibited from blocking driveways on nearby Martha Street and elsewhere, he confirmed.