Traffic flow goes slow as Central road woes continue

The early morning scene at Central High School had a distinct familiarity about it Wednesday for hundreds of students and parents waiting in bumper-to-bumper traffic for the second day in a row.

With only one campus entrance accessible to most, school officials say they've done all they can to improve the flow of traffic -- which backed up several miles along Mount Auburn Road as 1,300 students arrived for their first day of school Tuesday.

In response to the dilemma, city officials agreed to let the school use the one completed lane on Silver Springs Road for staff vehicles and school buses only.

Assistant principal Mark Ruark said having that entrance available for the school's 130 employees and the buses was a huge help Wednesday morning.

"We were done at 7:50 a.m., while Tuesday morning it was 8:10 a.m.," he said. The first bell rings at 7:45 a.m.

Other parents and students used a back driveway off Mount Auburn Road.

The problem stems from ongoing construction of the new five-lane Silver Springs Road in front of the new $18 million high school. City officials originally said it would be completed before school started.

"Is it frustrating? Sure it is. It's a huge inconvenience every morning and afternoon," said high school principal Mike Cowan. "But everything we know to do we have in place. We're simply waiting for Silver Springs Road to be finished."

Russell Lappe with Lappe Cement Finishing Inc., the company contracted for the Silver Springs project, said construction should be finished in the next four weeks.

Many of the students said Wednesday they couldn't tell there was an improvement in the traffic flow.

"I don't think it was really any better today. There were still long lines, and we still had to wait 20 minutes to turn into the school parking lot," freshman Adria Brewer said.

Sophomore Lindsey Smith said she thought the traffic problem was even worse on the second day.

"I got here 10 minutes earlier and waited even longer than on Tuesday," Smith said.

Long waits

The long lines worsened Wednesday afternoon, as cars were still waiting to exit the parking lot at 2:55 p.m., despite six staff members and two policemen directing traffic.

"A student who gets out of school at 2:20 p.m. should not have to wait 35 minutes to get out of the parking lot," said Ruark.

Ruark said he also sympathized with parents who waited to drop their children off before going to work in the morning, and he appreciates their patience.

"I think the parents know that if the school was in the business of building roads, it would have been done months ago," he said.

Ruark said the one lane on Silver Springs will also be opened to Career and Technology Center staff and buses today. The center is next door to Central High.

cchitwood@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 128