School Zone Striping in Oregon: Safety Markings for Schools and Drop-Off Areas

School Striping Is a Safety-First Priority

School parking lots and surrounding areas present the highest-stakes striping scenario: children as young as five are navigating among moving vehicles driven by parents in a hurry. The margin for error is zero. Every marking in a school zone exists to protect children, manage chaotic traffic patterns during drop-off and pick-up, and maintain ADA accessibility for students, staff, and visitors with disabilities.

Oregon schools — whether public, private, or charter — face a unique combination of requirements from federal ADA standards, Oregon Department of Education guidelines, local building codes, and fire marshal regulations. This guide covers the critical striping elements for school properties in Oregon.

Drop-Off and Pick-Up Zone Markings

The drop-off/pick-up zone is the highest-traffic, highest-risk area on any school property. During a 15 to 30-minute window twice daily, dozens to hundreds of vehicles queue, stop, discharge passengers, and merge back into traffic — all while children are walking, running, and crossing traffic lanes.

Lane Markings

The drop-off lane should be clearly marked with solid white boundary lines separating it from through-traffic lanes and parking areas. Directional arrows should indicate the flow direction. "DROP OFF ONLY" or "LOADING ZONE" text should be stenciled at the beginning of the zone.

Pavement Markings

Yellow curb paint or "NO PARKING" markings should prevent vehicles from parking in the drop-off lane during active hours. Time restrictions can be communicated through signage — "NO PARKING 7:00 AM - 8:30 AM" or "LOADING ZONE — 15 MINUTE LIMIT."

Queue Lane Markings

For schools with organized parent queues, painted lane markings guide vehicles into a single queue line, prevent cutting and lane confusion, and keep the queue within designated areas rather than spilling onto public streets.

Bus Zone Markings

School bus zones require specific markings that are distinct from general parking and drop-off areas.

"BUS ONLY" or "SCHOOL BUS ZONE" text stenciled on the pavement within designated bus parking areas clearly reserves these spaces for bus use only.

Yellow curbing along bus zones prevents other vehicles from parking in bus spaces during school hours.

Bus lane markings should guide buses from the lot entrance to the bus zone and back to the exit without conflicting with parent vehicles. Separating bus traffic from parent traffic is a fundamental safety design principle.

Bus number markings help organize multiple buses into designated positions, reducing confusion and ensuring efficient loading.

Crosswalk Markings

School zone crosswalks must be the most visible markings on the property. The standard parallel-line crosswalk provides minimum compliance, but high-visibility crosswalk designs are strongly recommended for school applications.

Continental crosswalks (also called ladder crosswalks) use wide bars perpendicular to the path of travel between the boundary lines. This pattern is significantly more visible to drivers than standard parallel lines and is the recommended design for school zones.

Color: White is the standard crosswalk color. Yellow crosswalks are used at some school zones for additional emphasis, though this varies by jurisdiction.

Placement: Crosswalks should connect every pedestrian path across a vehicular travel lane — building entrances to parking areas, parking areas to athletic facilities, bus zones to building entrances, and connections to public sidewalks.

Reflectivity: School crosswalks should receive the highest level of reflective treatment available — high-index glass beads on paint or thermoplastic marking material. Many students arrive and depart during low-light conditions in fall and winter months.

Speed Control Markings

Speed limit markings stenciled on the pavement reinforce posted speed limits — typically 5 to 15 mph in school parking lots. These pavement markings supplement vertical speed limit signs.

Speed bump markings must be clearly visible with high-contrast yellow-and-black diagonal striping and advance warning text. School speed bumps should have the most visible marking treatment available due to the high consequence of a child being near an unseen speed bump when a vehicle strikes it. See our complete striping guide for marking details.

ADA Requirements for School Lots

Schools must comply with all standard ADA parking requirements — accessible space counts based on total lot capacity, van-accessible spaces, access aisle markings, signage, and accessible route connections. Additionally, schools must provide accessible routes from accessible parking to all school buildings, accessible drop-off zones that allow wheelchair users to be discharged safely, and accessible crosswalks with detectable warning surfaces at curb ramps.

For complete ADA requirements, see our striping regulations in Oregon guide.

Staff and Visitor Parking Markings

Visitor parking should be clearly marked near the main building entrance with "VISITOR" pavement stencils and signage. This directs unfamiliar visitors to appropriate parking and keeps them away from bus zones and drop-off areas.

Staff parking sections should be marked to separate employee vehicles from active student drop-off and pick-up traffic. Staff lots often have assigned numbered spaces.

Emergency vehicle parking near building entrances must remain marked and clear at all times per fire code requirements.

Maintenance Schedule for School Markings

School lot markings face intense seasonal wear patterns. Thousands of vehicle movements during the school year concentrated in drop-off and pick-up zones wear through paint faster than typical commercial lot traffic. Summer provides a natural re-striping window when lots are empty and weather is optimal.

Annual re-striping. Plan to re-stripe critical markings (crosswalks, bus zones, drop-off lanes) every summer before school resumes. Include markings in your parking lot maintenance checklist.

Thermoplastic for critical markings. Crosswalks, bus zone text, and drop-off zone markings benefit from thermoplastic application, which lasts 4 to 8 years compared to 1 to 2 years for paint in high-traffic school zones.

Cost of School Zone Striping

A complete school parking lot striping project including lot lines, ADA spaces, crosswalks, bus zones, drop-off lane markings, arrows, and text typically costs $3,000 to $12,000 depending on lot size and complexity. See our parking lot striping cost in Oregon guide for detailed pricing.

School Striping by Cojo

Cojo provides specialized school zone striping services across Oregon with scheduling designed around the school calendar — summer break projects ensure fresh markings for each school year.

Contact Cojo to schedule a summer striping project for your school.