Over the summer, Riverbend created a new entrance for parents between Harrison Crossing and the Route 3/Spotswood Furnace light. This entrance allows parents coming from the east to drop their kids off smoothly, and not get stuck at the light. It is not suggested that busses use this entrance because of the tight turn. Many parents seem to question whether this made traffic any better. However, Mr. Carney, the School Security Officer who controls traffic in the morning, believes it has a positive impact on our school traffic. He thinks this is partly because the road does not connect to the Church of the Messiah parking lot. “It has helped the flow of traffic coming from Route 3 coming in and going out of school,” said Mr. Carney.
This change has helped with the traffic congestion that comes with the school morning traffic. I believe that the new addition of this road has greatly improved the time is takes to get to school in the morning. This new addition takes cars that would have backed up the traffic at the light onto the new road which takes away some traffic making it easier to get into the school. This access way also allows for a faster drop off of kids by the parents, which would allow them to get to work or back home faster.
However, some students seem to disagree that it even helps traffic. Senior, Will Alvarez, who commutes to school from the east, said, “It is a mess and creates a jam in the morning, delaying student arrival to school.” He chooses not to use the new road because it takes him longer when he does. Senior Amy Rouse also agrees that the new road does not help traffic. “I think that it should’ve been for the busses, that way it’s not as much traffic. I’m trying to get into school and being stopped by busses. It would also help with leaving school and wouldn’t take as long for students to leave.” Even though some people disagree that the road helps traffic, the general consensus has been that the road is useful overall.
While the new traffic pattern is helpful for traffic coming from the east, it is not very helpful to the traffic that is coming from the north or west. Traffic easily becomes backed up at both of those lights coming into the school, which is not good for those students, teachers, or parents.