Diablo View's Student Pickup Nightmare

Every afternoon, Christy Harris arrives about 30 minutes early in her red Ford Expedition to pick up her sixth-grader from .

She gets the best parking spot—in front of the school and to the right. And there, reading the newspaper or a book, she waits. She knows that securing this prime spot will make leaving easier after she picks up her son, Carter.

It's not that Harris doesn't have anything better to do. She would prefer to come to the school when the kids get out. But she knows if she does that she runs the risk of being stuck in gridlock.

"There is about a 15-minute window when you just can't get into the parking lot," she said. "There's nowhere to go."

Harris isn't the only one who finds picking up students at Diablo View to be a painful process.

Stefanie Hudson usually arrives about 15 minutes before the school day ends to pick up her sixth-grader, Malia.

"It's a total pain in the butt if you get here later," she said. "You have to drive in circles. Malia knows I'm usually in the front so I like to have a routine so I don't throw her off."

Mike Fine, who picks up his seventh-grader, Zachary, and sixth-grader, Sarah, a couple blocks from the campus, said it's simply a matter of too many people coming at the same time.

"It's the volume," he said. "There's 700 kids' parents and there's not a lot of space between the light and where you turn, so the queue builds up and cars start backing up into the street."

Principal Patti Bannister recognizes the problem. On Friday, representatives from 511 Contra Costa, a county organization that promotes green alternatives to traffic congestion, planned to look at the layout of the parking lot to see what could be done to alleviate the morning and afternoon log jam.

Also, at the , where some middle schoolers are dropped off and picked up, should relieve some of the traffic. If the work is completed on schedule, the parking lot extension will be completed by fall.

But, in the short term, Bannister emphasized the importance of patience when picking up students.

"If you wait until about 10 minutes after school the traffic is usually fine," she said.

Another strategy is to stay away from the main parking lot.

That's what Veronica Guerrero does. She parks a few blocks from school and lets her son, Diego, walk to her.

"It's a little dangerous, there's just too many cars," said Guerrero, explaining why she she doesn't drive into the parking lot. "So we meet on the street. It's just easier and less crowded."