The Observation Deck

Can anyone explain to me the purpose of blocking traffic in one direction an hour before school starts everyday? It's very inconvenient if you live in this neighborhood. I could understand if it was serving a good purpose, but I can't see one - the street is empty behind the cones. And the signs are very ugly. I thought maybe it was for school drop off / pick up purposes. But I've lived next to that school for 17 years and they've never felt the need to re-route traffic before.

School pickup lines are inconvenient enough without the city restricting access to my home.

First thing I thought looking at the picture is that those "Do Not Enter" signs effectively make that street one way ALL THE TIME.

Driving up to that intersection, and seeing the big signs, who wouldn't just turn no matter what time it was? You don't necessarily have time to sit, peruse the hours, then decide if you can go or not - you just go another way.