OBSERVER Photo by M.J. Stafford Prime parking spots on Sixth Street are already taken last week — a few minutes ahead of Dunkirk Intermediate School, in the background, letting out for the day.

Dunkirk’s city government and school district are working together on ways to ease the congestion around the intermediate school on Eagle Street.

The neighborhood around the school gets packed tight with traffic when students arrive and leave for the day. Private vehicles jockey for position amid limited parking, often sparking frustration.

The school district has approached the city for help, Department of Public Works Department Director Randy Woodbury said at a recent meeting of the Common Council’s Finance Committee.

Some exit and entry routes to the school might get redesigned, he said. “We’ll put something together… we’re hoping we’ll have a very minimal dollar expense for this,” he said.

Dunkirk Police Chief Chris Witkowski said Board of Education President Kenneth Kozlowski personally reached out to him on the issue.

“Our No. 1 priority over there is child safety – it’s very congested,” Witkowski said. However, he warned that there should be a traffic study before any changes are made.

The Common Council subsequently hired a traffic engineer, Paul Parker, for the project. Woodbury had said the city was looking for the school district to pay most of the project, and the resolution to hire Parker should specify that the city should pay no more than $1,000 in the deal.

However, the resolution passed by council doesn’t give any dollar figures. It states that “assistance on the school project is expected to be paid for by the school and road work with signage done as in-kind by the city.”

The resolution also states that Parker is getting retained for planning work on reconstructions of Doughty and Newton streets. Those are so-called “federal aid highways” and Woodbury is seeking state and federal money to pay for those projects.