Parents at St Philip's Christian College, Cessnock have warned it is only a matter of time before a major accident occurs at an increasingly chaotic intersection outside the school.
The school, which has lodged a $74million state significant development application to develop the campus, is situated at the intersection of Wine Country Drive and Lomas Lane.
Minor accidents and near misses are commonplace as the intersection struggles to cope with the school's growth combined with the effect of nearby businesses such as Rydges Resort and the Hunter Valley Zoo.
"It's very dangerous; I recently arrived two minutes after an accident had happened. It was just before pick up and it was chaos; it blocked up the entire section, Lee-Anne Graham, who has three children at the school, said.
"Fortunately everyone was fine but my major concern is the safety of the children. Something needs to be done."
As part of its development plan the school has proposed installing traffic lights at the intersection.
It is estimated the project will cost between $2-3million.
"I can get cars into the school and then into drop-off zones quickly but they then end up backed up trying to get out of Lomas Lane onto Wine Country Drive," Principal Matt Connett said.
The only way to solve that is to increase the capacity of that intersection through a roundabout or traffic lights."
Jerry Schwartz, who owns Rydges Resort, a kilometre west of the school, said upgrading the intersection was not only needed for the safety of the school's students but also to improve access to his business.
"We really need that intersection upgraded as soon as possible. It's ludicrous that there is a school with an amazingly long frontage and there's no school zone there," he said.
"The next block up you have got Lovedale Road and you really need to have traffic lights there to improve traffic flow."
Mr Connett said he planned to continue working with the state government to find a cost-sharing solution to upgrading the intersection.
"We need to fast-track the administrative tasks in order to prioritise the safety of the young people," he said.
Cessnock MP Clayton Barr said he was awaiting the determination of the school's state significant development application.
"Once finalised the SSD will describe the traffic solution on that corner - and it will be expected to be funded by the developer. I sincerely hope we get to solutions as soon as possible," he said.
The intersection upgrade has the support of Cessnock Council, which it said was a matter for the state government to determine..
"In November 2022, Council resolved to support the college's proposal to install signalised traffic lights at the intersection," mayor Jay Suval said.
"A signalised intersection would enable a safe passage and access for students to the school, and additionally, would allow connection to shared pathway projects."
