The stretch of West Allens Lane in front of Houston Elementary School is now home to a brand new speed table designed to calm traffic in an area that sees heavy amounts of young students crossing the road, especially during the school’s drop-off and pickup times. The speed table was installed on Aug. 17.

“I think parents are pretty psyched to have the measures installed,” said Anne Dicker, who heads the West Mt. Airy Neighbors’ traffic calming committee. “The goal was to get measures to slow speeds as well as provide space for buses to drop off kids.”

One of those parents is Emily Pugliese.

“In the five years I’ve been walking our two boys to Houston we’ve had many near-misses with cars almost hitting both my kids and myself, and we’ve witnessed many more,” said Pugliese, who is also a co-president of the school’s home and school association. “We watched our teachers put themselves in physical danger every day to help students cross the street and get to school safely.”

Parents like Pugliese and other nearby neighbors have been organizing to have traffic calming devices installed near Houston for at least 12 years, Dicker told the Local.

“But over the past couple of years, several parents started organizing themselves and being strong advocates for action,” she continued. “They were successful in getting traffic studies done and PennDOT, Councilwoman Bass, and the Streets Department to witness how dangerous Allens Lane is.”

Pugliese said the entire school community was “thrilled” to see the speed table installed.

“I’ve had many parents, grandparents, and teachers reach out expressing so much relief that our kids will be safer getting to and from school this year,” she said.