Chang, a Redwood Middle School parent and PTA co-president, helps direct traffic in the school's parking lots every morning and afternoon during the school week.

When 940 sixth- through eighth-graders are picked up from the school, traffic on Allendale comes to a complete stop for nearly 20 minutes. The situation is bad enough for parents, but it is especially troublesome for patrons of the post office next door or of the city offices and senior center across the street.

Chang and other parent volunteers in the school's three pickup/dropoff areas try to keep cars off of Fruitvale Avenue, maintain traffic flow and prevent parents from making dangerous, illegal maneuvers to get in and out of the area.

"We need traffic police officers," she said. "If I was not out there, [parents] would be all over the place."

But even if traffic officers were available to manage the site (Chang says they are not), they wouldn't be able to prevent the daily backup.

Redwood Principal Beth Polito said that construction at the school has contributed to the problem. Though completion of that construction may relieve some of the gridlock, the basic conflict of too many cars in too little space will remain. Nearby Sacred Heart and St. Andrew's schools end their days around the same time as Redwood, increasing the number of cars in the area.

Polito said the pickup/dropoff point at the end of Allendale was added this school year in an attempt to relieve congestion on Fruitvale, but it has just moved the problem.

"That third dropoff was considered to be a possible solution to the congestion," Polito said. "Some people may think that it's a little bit better from experiencing or sitting in the other traffic, but I don't know if it is or not."

Rodney Romero, acting postmaster of the post office, said that in addition to delaying mail carriers, the backup is a potential safety hazard.

"Emergency vehicles from the fire department and the police department are going to be unable to get into this area," he said. "I'm sure the school is aware of it. I don't know if there's an answer to the situation, but it is a situation."

Chang said that emergency access is definitely one of her concerns—one she has dealt with recently. She said that when a student recently needed emergency medical care, Chang made all of the parents waiting on Allendale move as far to either side of the road as possible to allow a firetruck to squeeze through the throng.

Like Romero, Chang said she did not know if there is a solution to the problem. West Valley College has offered one of its parking lots for pickup after school on most days, but parents do not use the lot. She said campaigns promoting the use of carpools have helped a little bit, though.

"People have been very cooperative with that," she said. "People I know come and pick up kids even when their own kids are not at school sometimes."

Polito said the school is considering some kind of incentive to encourage more carpooling and alternative transportation, such as designating the Allendale pickup/dropoff spot for carpools only and adding skateboard racks on the campus.

Redwood is not the only problem site. The Saratoga Public Safety Commission formed a special task force several years ago to deal with traffic issues at Saratoga schools.

"Ninety percent of the issues we were [hearing] relating to traffic and safety were school-related," Safety Commissioner Brigitte Ballingall said. "Through the task force, we developed a traffic-calming plan. Part of that calming plan is to initialize carpooling."

Ballingall said that when she moved to Saratoga from the East Coast, she was shocked to learn that there was no school-bus program. The city had to cancel its program in the early 1980s, she said, and a more recent test program revealed that the more than $1,000 per student the program would cost would not even provide convenient pickup of all students.

"Some people would be willing to pay that if they could pick their kids up near their door," she said. "In order to get parents to put their kids on a bus, you need it to be convenient."

But until either a bond measure or private funds provide the large amount of money needed to reinstate busing, schools can only attempt to mitigate traffic-flow problems. At Redwood, there does not appear to be much more anyone can do to improve the situation. Assistant City Manager Lorie Tinfow said the limitations of the space are preventing any further solutions.

"Frankly, there's no way to solve it, because there's just too much going on in the intersection," she said. "We've had our public works director looking at it, traffic engineers looking at it—this is basically as good as it gets."