Traffic problems put students in a jam

It’s 7:19 a.m. You left your house at 7 a.m. but still have not made it off of Clayton Road. With sweaty palms and a pounding chest, you’re anxious about making it to class on time. Your fears are not in isolation.  

At the start of school Principal Jeremy Mitchell contacted Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT) to help investigate the traffic congestion from Clayton Road into Parkway West High School.

“They came out and they actually had a car sit up here and look at it. I think they made some minor tweaks, they extended the lights a little bit. They were very careful to say that we can’t do a whole lot because of Clayton being a major fair. They don’t want to back it up, but you have to back it up somewhere,” Mitchell said.

Students and teachers still feel the pressure of traffic despite the changes.

“To me it’s kind of stressful because I’m worried about getting to school on time so I’m always kind of stressed,” junior Katie English, who drives herself to school, said.

English witnessed a car accident happen around the exit from the junior lot in the lanes leaving from school.

“[It] actually happened a couple months ago. Someone was trying to sort of skip through the line and go left and they ended up getting in an accident with someone who didn’t see them coming,” English said.

Junior Lauren Lashly was within minutes of being late for first semester finals because of traffic.

“I was texting someone, not while I was driving, and they were saying that the line was all the way past the Schoettler intersection, even close to Target. I was also waiting in that line and it was already really long at 7:10 a.m. I remember waiting in the line for at least 10 to 15 minutes before I actually got to turn into the school,”  Lashly said. “That was a rare occasion where I actually thought I was going to be late for real.”

Manager of Planning and Engineering for Parkway, Scott Bennett said that if there is a problem with the traffic that needs to be addressed, then an investigation can be conducted if it is brought to the attention of the assigned Facilities Construction Supervisor Frank McCarty.

“If the investigation showed that in fact there was a problem, then we would work on a conceptual plan for a solution to the problem and the costs associated with implementing the plan. At that point a funding source would have to be identified,” Bennett said. “Once a funding source is identified and approved, then we would move forward with the plan to correct the problem. As you can see there are many steps involved.”

However, Mitchell did not believe this was the proper channel to take because he thinks the real problem lies elsewhere.

“We felt as if our real problem was Clayton Road and the access, not so much the parking lot itself, so we’ve never said that we need to investigate and take a look at revamping our parking lot because we had done that,” Mitchell said.

According to a Pathfinder survey with 125 respondents, 41 percent of students are dropped off by a parent.

“When [parents] do choose to bring their kids to school, that creates a traffic jam, but if everybody leaves early enough, they will get here on time, so it shouldn’t be an issue,” Student Resource Officer Scott Scoggins said. “I think every campus has the same issue. If everyone is getting here at the exact same time or leaving at the same time, there’s just going to be traffic and you have to be patient.”

Mitchell’s goal is to work within the confines of the parking lot space provided.

“However the space is organized, it’s going to be congested, so our goal is to try make it as least congested as possible,” Mitchell said.