City to test school zone beacons

You may have noticed flashing beacons when you’re driving through a school zone in the morning or afternoon when kids are present. The beacons are designed to alert drivers (that’s you) to be cautious, drive slowly and obey the school zone speed limit. According to the Austin Transportation Department, there are 560 of these nifty flashing beacons spread across 330 school zones in seven school districts in Austin. School starts Tuesday, Aug. 20, so in order to ensure that all of the beacons are in good working order, ATD will be conducting testing in the mornings and afternoons of Thursday, Aug. 15; Friday, Aug. 16; and Monday, Aug. 19. For beacons in the Round Rock and Leander school districts, testing takes place Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, Aug. 12, 13 and 14, before school starts on Thursday, Aug. 15. Sensibly enough, ATD crews will conduct tests at the times the beacons would normally operate: 6:45-8 a.m. and 2:30-4:30 p.m., though these times may vary depending on each school’s schedule.