The roaring heat is ablaze. The town is busy as ever. As the people on Summerhill are stuck in a gridlock in traffic, students and parents find themselves wondering why they did all of this construction to begin with. 

The new road was constructed at the end of last school year and was finished in the twilight hours of summer. The purpose of this was to intentionally drive out traffic on Summerhill and migrate it to another section so the pace would be faster. 

“When the road was being built, I thought that it was going to be a weird setup resulting in traffic jams. But I think it’ll mellow down over time,” junior Brett Sparks said.

However, the new route has received backlash from people throughout the beginning of this school year. Some students claim that the road should never have been built. Several students believe that having two exits will only choke up traffic at the stoplights and cause it to go even slower. The competition of getting in and out of the parking lot has also made it harder for everyone to leave in an organized manner. 

“I believe that the new road helps cars off of Summerhill better, but it is also quite slow coming in due to the merging,” junior Garrett Adcock said. “It takes too long, but that might just be because it is the start of a new school year.” 

On the other hand, the situation has begun to water down, and traffic has become much smoother. Students and parents have both learned the new route, and things have started to turn around for the better. Most importantly, the safety has increased greatly not only for students and parents, but the crossing guards as well.

“I have been working in the parking lot for 10 years, and I believe that the new pickup line will drive out traffic and prevent further issues between parents and students,” Assistant Principal Julius Anderson said. “I think it was necessary in order to avoid any potential accidents.”

Safety is of most importance when it comes to traffic, not time consumption.

“I prefer to be safe, but if other people wish to endanger themselves and potentially cause an accident, that’s on them,” junior Dominick Robinson said.

The opinion of the new path has also begun to improve upon students who both drive and get picked up.

“I like it. It seems like it’s a little slow, but I think that’s just because of the beginning,” junior Adam McCarter said. “They just started out so I’m positive they’ll fix out all the kinks and problems.”